War of the Machines
by daughter-of-Myou
Summary: Eva Larsson dreams of life on other worlds. When an Autobot scout ship crashes down near her home; her own world – and those of her aunt, Vicky, and Quinn, a boy from college – is turned upside down as she finds herself thrown into a war for survival.
1. Prologue

_Planet Earth: a dense chunk of terrestrial rock orbiting a G2V star at the heart of the blandly-named Solar System, formed from residual spatial debris some four-point-five-four billion years ago. Due to a phenomenal collaboration of extraordinary events and conditions; the Earth has, across an insignificant period of time when compared to the age of the universe itself, become home to an equally large number of living species. Plants, animals… humans. _

_But contrary to common beliefs held by the majority of the six-point-nine-four billion human beings living on its surface, Earth is not the only planet on which sentient life exists. Our world was not created in the same manner as theirs, and neither was our race. We were granted the miracle of life by the sacred implement known to our people as the AllSpark – an object that was lost to us during the chaotic throes of war. _

_However… though I was the one who issued the order for it be ejected into space, out of the reach of he whom I once called a brother, I remain hopeful that the AllSpark still exists somewhere amidst the depths of the cosmos. It must exist – for if not, our race will inevitably cease to do the same… and Cybertron will forevermore remain dark and lifeless._

_Yet, hope remains. The Earth has offered itself to us as a new home, and though its inhabitants remain mostly unaware of our presence; a select few humans have chosen to align themselves with us, with our cause – while some have decided to stand against it. But regardless of what they choose to believe when faced with the reality of our existence; so long as the Decepticon threat remains on this planet, we will protect humankind from their evil… no matter the cost._

_I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message in hope that any Autobots still online in the depths of space will answer my call. We owe it to this world and its people to defend humanity, and defend it…we shall. We are here – we are waiting._


	2. The Bandit

Against the glittering backdrop of space, the breathtaking helix nebula softly glowed in all its fiery oranges and gentle blues. Resembling the eye of some cosmic deity, the ethereal cloud of dust and ionised gasses gazed out into the shimmering depths from its throne in the womb of Aquarius; watching placidly as a much smaller physical entity slowly drifted through the void. It was a Decepticon ship, a rather diminutive one by Cybertronian standards, designed and constructed not as an instrument of destruction, but as a simple scout vessel. Its name was the _Bandit_, and it had witnessed both many victories and defeats over the course of the Great War. Lately, however, its terms of service had been purely reconnaissance.

The Bandit's captain was standing before a blank monitor on the observation deck, sharp fingers intertwined behind her back as she stared indifferently out into the far stretches of space. Her slender, streamlined build was unmistakeably that of a Seeker – but it did not convey the status of power that she had seized amidst the chaos of battle. Still, there was something decidedly lethal about her appearance; perhaps it was the coldness of her off-grey chassis, or the stern arrangement of her smooth but callous faceplates. Whatever the source, it was clear to even the most obtuse observer that she was no one to be trifled with.

"Commander Jetstream," came a sudden voice from the shadows.

The Decepticon turned slowly, deliberately. A second Cybertronian emerged from the darkness across from her, the sky blue panelling of his body oddly miscoloured under the reflection of the glorious nebula outside. He was built for speed and stealth, his movements fluid and silent, but there was a glint of unruliness in his blood-coloured optics. Unruliness – and fear.

Jetstream regarded him with clear disdain. "You have something to report?" she asked, voice laced with dangerous boredom.

"Few kliks ago, we picked up a stray signal entering this galaxy," her rather short subordinate replied, attempting to sound casual. He gestured a hand, the movement causing both sets of slick wheels embedded in his back to spin slightly. "Think it's an Autobot ship. It's too small to be a transport – prob'ly a lost scout craft or somethin'. Thought you'd wanna know."

Jetstream stared contemptuously at him for a moment longer, before whipping back around to face the monitor. The smaller Decepticon flinched at her swift movement. "Show me," she ordered, tones sharp with authority.

The monitor instantly came to life as though in response, displaying a simplistic representation of the ship's perimeter at her command. Countless white dots portrayed the locations of nearby celestial bodies, which were moving inward as the image gradually zoomed out. A moving red icon appeared near a large cluster of white points, indicative of an asteroid belt, beside which was displayed a small column of Cybertronian text. Three energy signatures had been detected onboard.

"So…" breathed Jetstream, a smile playing on her lips. "More Autobots arrive. Do they not realise that they have no chance of survival? The Decepticon forces greatly out-power and outnumber their own, and yet they continue to flock to their deaths. How… amusing."

"What's the plan, commander?"

"Change our course at once," was her brusque reply. "Move to intercept the Autobot ship. As soon as it's in range, blow it into oblivion."

Smirking, the four-wheeler rubbed his hands together eagerly. "You got it."

The Bandit altered its route through space accordingly, its crew moving to man their stations in preparation for battle. How long was it since they'd last been involved in a dogfight? Jetstream couldn't remember. She strode toward the prow of the deck, the sweet anticipation of victory already burning through her circuitry. With a steadying breath, the commander shuttered her optics. The foreign vessel was quite some distance away, and it would take several cycles to reach it even at full speed. She had waited out stellarcycles for this – for an opportunity to prove her usefulness to her master. She could wait a little longer.

* * *

><p>"Autobot vessel dead ahead!"<p>

Their target was almost laughable. It was a tiny silver ship, exceptionally outdated in its build, with a faded registration printed on both sides of the hull. There were no weapons mounted into its frame, having been strictly designed for exploration, and nor were there any indications of where it came from or what it was doing in this galaxy. Such trivialities were of no interest to Jetstream, however; she watched it cautiously navigate the asteroid belt with hungry optics, as a predator would observe its unwitting prey.

"For the glory of Lord Megatron…" she said softly, before sweeping a hand toward the Autobot ship. "FIRE!"

In a blaze of firepower and fury, the Bandit's weapon systems surged to life – bursts of concentrated energon tore free from cannons mounted on both sides of the ship, racing one another into the asteroid belt and toward the target. Many of the blasts prematurely detonated as they clipped nearby asteroids, but several rushed cleanly between the debris and smashed into the side of the enemy vessel. The effect was instantaneous: the Autobot ship was pitched sideward from the force of the resulting explosions, chunks of precious metal and debris drifting away to become lost forever, but its pilot somehow managed to swerve between the asteroids and prevent a major collision.

Hissing, Jetstream made a downward striking motion with her clenched fist. "Shoot it again!" she shrieked. "Don't stop until you've torn that ship apart!"

"Oh, no way!" the blue Decepticon replied nervously, fingers scuttling away atop the touch-keys beneath the monitor. "We'd have to duck into the belt to keep it in range, and we ain't small enough to get through without a scratch!"

Jetstream rounded on him at once, crossing the stretch of panelled floor between them faster than he could blink. He took an automatic step backward – barely able to glimpse her raised hand before it smacked into the side of his face, the impact snapping his head painfully to the side. Trickles of energon began to bead from the deep scores left by her deadly fingers, but he was too shocked to feel it at once.

"Do _not_ question my orders," threatened Jetstream, moving her intimidating faceplates to within an inch of his hesitant ones.

Fortunately for the smaller Decepticon, salvation from further punishment came in the form of the enemy. Despite the commendable efforts of the pilot; the vessel collided awkwardly with a sizeable asteroid, knocking loose its starboard wing. As though in slow motion; the ship began to spiral out of control, shards of melded framework and support struts spilling out into the darkness, before the wing eventually came completely free. The ship began to drift, uncontrollable, through the field, spinning slowly toward the large chunk of reddish rock beyond the belt.

Jetstream stepped away from her subordinate, systems cooling as she watched the Autobot craft twirl gracefully past the red planet. "Well, well," she murmured softly, tracing its path. The larger blue planet beyond possessed a much stronger gravitational pull; one that seemed to have already ensnared the damaged vessel. Given its inoperable state, she doubted that the pilot would be able to break free and escape. "I suppose inflicting severe damage will suffice. And as it happens, it would appear that the Autobots are on a collision course with the Earth… delightful. Relay!"

The four-wheeler jumped to attention, having been running a hand over his faceplates to inspect the damage. Her sharp tone sent a shiver through his entire frame, rattling his gears, but he fell motionless as she flicked her crimson optics back toward his.

"I want you to follow that ship for me," she said, approaching him at a dangerously slow pace. He tensed as she neared, trying not to blink or breathe. "No doubt the Autobots will already have fled by the time you reach the crash site. Inspect the wreckage – see if you can salvage anything. Then return here."

The Bandit's captain turned on her heel, heading back toward the prow. "And… if I find the Autobots?" Relay asked uncertainly. "Can I scrap 'em?"

Jetstream let a quiet chuckle escape her lips. "No," she replied. "Your mission is strictly recon – you're better at that. But if you _do_ happen to stumble across our new arrivals, make sure you get a good look at them. That way, it will be easier to hunt them down in the future."

Without another word; Relay retreated into the shadows of the Bandit's corridors, heading for the GroundBridge chamber. He waited until he was far from his commander's earshot before letting out a restrained sigh of relief, startled to have emerged from their meeting with only minor damage to his person.


	3. First Contact

Slouched in one of the most uncomfortable chairs ever crafted by the hand of man, Evangeline Larsson glanced for what was easily the hundredth time at her wristwatch in the silent examination hall of Boulstridge Sixth Form College. A tedious-looking question paper and matching answer booklet rested on opposite corners of the small square table behind which she sat, neatly aligned with the edges of its wooden surface, flanking a single black biro that had long lost the heat of her hand. Fiddling idly with her ponytail, she furtively rolled the crick out of her neck and cast jaded eyes along the rows of students around her.

Not a single one of her classmates were even close to finishing the paper. She let out a silent, exasperated sigh; sinking in her seat. There were still some twenty-odd minutes separating her from the freedom of summer, and she had nothing to do but sit in this big stuffy room and absorb the germs of her fellow students. Focusing her cinnamon-coloured eyes on a broken light fixture above, Eva allowed her mind to wander – and it didn't take long to arrive at its favoured topic.

Within the Solar System existed eight planets, five dwarf planets, and many millions of stars. She also knew that there were perhaps half a dozen other possible dwarf planets dotted here and there, though their official status was yet to be confirmed. _Outside_ of the Solar System, however, was a completely different story. She didn't know for sure how many planets existed beyond the stretches of the Milky Way – nobody did. The number was likely well into its billions; that much alone was certain. But to Eva, and many other humans who were fascinated by the mysteries of space, that undetermined but likely immeasurable number invoked the notion that humankind could not be alone in the universe.

Her aunt called it the 'Goldilocks effect'. Humans were exceptionally lucky to exist, because the planet on which they lived was _exactly_ the right distance from the sun. If the Earth was any farther away from the giant ball of hydrogen and helium at the centre of the Solar System, its surface would be too cold to support human life. Any closer, and it would be too hot.

_Human_ life – _that_ was the concept that fascinated Eva. Given the sheer number of planets that were known to exist in the universe, and those that were still impossible to discover without the use of more advanced technology; wasn't it possible that at least one other planet could exist _somewhere_ in the vastness of space, where the conditions were right for another form of life? Perhaps one that wasn't carbon based – lithium, maybe? Argon? Calcium? Iron? Or perhaps some new element – a substance unknown to man because it didn't exist on Earth?

A sudden rustling drew Eva from her reverie. With a start; she realised that the majority of her classmates had begun to rise from their seats, the exam finally over – though a few students were still frantically scribbling in hopes of heightening their grades. Hooking her pen into the pocket of her jeans; Eva rose from her chair with difficulty and took a moment to straighten her spine. She meandered between the rapidly emptying desks for a while, waiting for the sun-thirsty throng that was her physics class to gather their things from the back of the hall and filter through the ridiculously narrow exit.

After grabbing her bag and collecting her mobile phone from one of the invigilators near the doorway, she turned to head out into the corridor – but paused when she found herself face-to-face with another straggler who had attempted to leave at precisely the same moment as she. Both late-teens fell motionless, hovering awkwardly in the threshold.

Eva faltered, motioning a hand toward the bright passageway outside. "After you," she muttered.

The young man shook his head quickly, unsettling a few already untidy locks of his dark hair. "Ladies first," he grinned, similarly gesturing.

Uncomfortable, Eva saw herself through the narrow doorway first without a word of thanks. She made a sharp right and immediately set off down the corridor, having lacked the patience to learn social etiquette during her youth. It was several moments before she realised that the young man was still with her, despite the slapping of both their sets of converse on the reflective linoleum floor.

"How'd the exam go?" he asked in good-natured tones, somehow managing to look blasé whilst keeping pace with her quick strides. He was taller than her by a good few inches, though she was convinced that such an achievement wasn't particularly difficult, with a well-formed jaw but soft cheekbones. His choice of clothing, a bold green hoodie over an even brighter orange T-shirt, made her think of Tic Tacs. "I saw you finished early – it was pretty impressive, actually."

"You _saw_ me?" she repeated, incredulous as they rounded a corner and passed a meandering group of girls who looked dressed for a night out rather than class.

"I was in the seat behind you," he shrugged, honest.

Eva knew his name; Jason, though nobody seemed to refer to him as such. She knew it not because she was on particularly close terms with him, but because he was popular. It wasn't the bad sort of 'popular', though; everybody knew _Quinn_ because he was too nice and laid-back a guy for anyone to dislike. He was on speaking terms with every single student and staff member on campus – especially the women who worked in the canteens, since hunger seemed to be a permanent medical affliction to him. How he ate as much as he did whilst remaining that slim was a mystery.

Eva and Quinn stopped walking when they reached the long row of lockers across from the toilets. She promptly fished a key from her back pocket and unlocked the storage space labelled L-2, unlatching her bag as Quinn began to ask her about the questions on the test paper. She paid him little attention as she transferred the entire content of her locker – three textbooks and a shabby black notepad – into her bag, answering with the occasional 'mmm' or 'yeah'. It wasn't that she didn't like him; engaging conversation with a classmate was simply a concept that did not appeal to her. Especially a male classmate. After closing the emptied cubbyhole and stowing away the key, she turned to face Quinn – surprised as he fell silent with an expectant smile.

"I need to use the bathroom," she invented, gesturing toward the nearby door that was marked with a simplistic feminine figure. Quinn's face fell a little, almost making her feel bad about lying to him. "You get the bus home, right? You'd better go, before it leaves without you."

Quinn stared at her for a moment, something close to disappointment on his face, before taking a languid step back and burying both hands into the depths of his pockets. "I guess I'll see you around, then," he said, giving another shrug. She nodded in response, moving toward the entrance of the girls' toilets. He turned away with a squeak of rubber on plastic and continued down the corridor, but almost immediately paused to glance back over his shoulder. "Hey – Eva? Take care of yourself, alright?"

Eva raised an eyebrow; what an odd thing to say. "Sure," she heard herself reply. "You too."

Quinn disappeared into an adjacent corridor, though the _clomp-squeak clomp-squeak_ of his footsteps continued for what seemed an age after she had lost sight of him. After the rhythmic noise had finally faded into the babble of chatter that always seemed to fill the entire campus at this time of year, Eva let slip a sigh and headed out of the nearby fire exit.

It didn't take long to spot her ride home once she had reached the college's car park; the battered '63 Fairlane Sedan that was her aunt's car was impossible to miss. It had been bought by a distant relative several generations ago, changing paintjobs and ownership within the family more times than she could remember. Currently, it was coloured a bold shade of teal with white accents; driver's seat occupied by a classy-looking woman donning oversized sunglasses and lively black hair.

The woman smiled excitably as she spotted Eva weaving between cars on her journey toward the Sedan. She leaned across the empty seat and opened the passenger door, pushing it wide as her niece came close enough to stop it from hitting the neighbouring vehicle. Eva clambered inside, dumping her bag in the foot well, and pulled the door over with difficulty.

"Hey honey," her aunt began brightly, removing the too-big glasses from her slightly upturned nose.

"Hi, Vicky," Eva replied, unable to keep from smiling.

Vicky was clad in a dark dress-suit despite the mid-June heat, but had removed her shoes and unbuttoned her blouse to an unprofessional low. In contrast to her appearance, however, she was not on the way to or home from work; Vicky was still hatefully unemployed, most likely having just come from yet another interview. Eva pitied her aunt; she had yet to meet a harder-working and more determined individual across all her eighteen years of living, one who would stop the world to cheer up those she cared about, and yet there were hundreds of less admirable people who had jobs but spent all of their earnings on garbage. But if Victoria Archer harboured spiteful feelings toward those people, she rarely let it show.

"So?" Vicky began, turning the key in the ignition. It took several attempts before the engine finally spluttered to life, by which time Eva had removed the bobble from her ponytail and swiped her auburn hair into its usual anything-goes arrangement. "How was it?"

"Dull," sighed Eva, manually rolling down the passenger window as Vicky coaxed the Sedan into first gear. "The questions were nothing we didn't go over in class, so it was easy – and finish-able with about half an hour to spare."

Vicky positively beamed at her niece. "That's my girl," she chuckled. The two fell silent for a while, one allowing the other to concentrate as she navigated the narrow curl of tarmac that led around the outside of the car park and onto the open road. She clicked on an indicator, leaning on the wheel as she waited for a break in traffic to pull out. "So… have you thought about your next move? I mean – you've just finished your last exam: you're officially out of education. What's the plan, E?"

Sinking in the Sedan's passenger seat, Evangeline didn't reply.

* * *

><p>Two AM came and went, and still Eva couldn't settle down. She wandered aimlessly around her tidy bedroom in no more than a pair of pyjama pants and a pale tank top, drawing confused looks from Benedict the sleepy Birman kitten as she prowled. Vicky had been right that afternoon – Eva could no longer call herself a student. All of her studying had been done, all exams sat, and now the only thing that remained was to wait for the results.<p>

As a child, her dream had been to become an astronaut. She'd also gone through phases of wanting to be a vet and a videogame designer – but the desire to explore the distant cosmos would likely never come to fruition now. It had only been recently announced that there were to be no more space missions – at least, not with NASA anyway. The fantasy of space exploration aside; she had no desire to go to university, and couldn't really see herself having an ordinary job. Eva the shelf-stacker? Teaching assistant? Librarian? Artist? Nothing felt either remotely plausible or attractive. Still, she couldn't just… _exist_. She couldn't rely on her aunt for the rest of her life, even after everything Vicky had already done for her.

She sank onto the edge of her bed, prompting Benedict to wander across the uneven mattress and clamber into her lap. He was warm; his weight comforting. She placed a hand atop his soft head, tracing circles in his fur, gazing out of her bedroom window as she did so. Life must be so much easier on other planets, she mused. Did aliens have to get jobs and earn their keep, or were they free to do whatever they wanted? Then again, aliens could have it so much worse than humans did. If there was no money or a system to maintain order, then how would anything get done? How would the world work? Would there be education, order – or simply anarchy?

Eva blinked back to reality as she noticed a bright light moving across the sky. It caught her attention at once; she was always the last person to dismiss such occurrences as mere planes or shooting stars. It was moving far too slowly to be a shooting star; and its radiance was too steady in intensity to be the pulsing flicker of an aeroplane. Strange.

The light slowly changed direction as she watched, altering its course through the inky sky in a manner impossible for either a shooting star _or_ an aircraft. She sat up quickly, almost dislodging Benedict. The now-irritated Birman hopped down from Eva's lap and settled himself on the mattress, not batting an eye as she jumped to her feet and swiftly crossed to the window. Placing both hands on the sill, she leaned so close to the glass that she could feel its chill on her skin. The light, whatever it was, was growing larger, and looked as though it was heading for the lake.

Without sparing an instant to contemplate what she was going to do; Eva grabbed her driving license and a loose pair of converse, expertly thrusting the latter onto her feet as she ran out onto the landing. The door to Vicky's bedroom was pulled over, but Eva paid it no heed. She rapidly but quietly descended the stairs, seizing her aunt's car keys from corner of the bottom step as she moved. In less than a minute she was out of the house, into the teal and white junker parked in the driveway, and promptly thrusting the key into the Sedan's ignition.

"Come on, come _on_!" she hissed as the engine gave a few wheezy coughs of protest, staring up through the windshield toward the vacant ebony-coloured sky.

She let out her breath in triumph when the Sedan sputtered to life, but didn't pause to dwell on her victory. Eva urged the car down the drive and carefully onto the main road that passed in front of the house, before throwing caution to the wind on the empty streets and flooring the accelerator.

Lake Rosemary was close to three miles away from the house that Eva called her home, some twenty metres deep and over forty metres wide. A single naturally-formed road surrounded its perimeter, weaving a path through the huge stretch of deciduous woodland that encompassed the water's edge. At this time of year, the scenery was beautiful during daylight hours – but the present darkness gave the clustered forest an eerily sinister feel. Between the branches, Eva tried to catch a glimpse of the strange light in the sky as she followed the meandering path through the trees. She thought it relatively safe to remove her eyes from the road – who in their sane mind would, for no good reason, decide to take a drive so early in the morning? But try as she might, she couldn't see the supposed UFO anywhere.

The reason for her inability to spot the light was, as she quickly discovered upon reaching a break in the trees, quite simply because the unknown object from which it originated had already landed. She slowed the Sedan to a halt several feet from an embankment above the lake, unable to keep her mouth from falling slack as she engaged the handbrake and clambered out of the car. Well, perhaps 'landed' wasn't exactly the right term – _crashed down_ seemed much more appropriate.

The water was still slapping against the earthen rock of the bank even as she approached, powerful ripples gliding across the surface of the water from… _something_ that was slowly sinking toward the depths a good few metres out. It was heavily charred and clearly damaged; great chunks of metal were missing, exposing sheared framework and blackened wiring beneath. And it was _big_. Vast plumes of black smoke and steam rose upward from the gaps in its hull, mingling with an unfamiliar atmosphere, lost within the darkness of the night. A small distance from the main pod-like structure, she could see a vertical column of metal – a wing – marked with complex but ultimately beautiful alien symbols.

Eva could only stand and gape as she watched the ship sink into Lake Rosemary, all life gone from her limbs as the Sedan's engine ticked over behind her. Despite all her years of dreaming, fantasising, _wishing_ that alien life existed somewhere beyond the Earth, she could do nothing but stare with a blank mind now that she was finally faced with it.

But her mind didn't stay empty for long. Less than a minute after the tip of the ship's wing disappeared into the lake, gone forever, several bubbles rose up from the depths and clung together like frogspawn. She thought nothing of them at first – until more and more pockets of air quickly ascended to break the surface. Eva took an automatic step backward – something was coming. Too shocked to remember the Sedan, she abandoned Vicky's car and impulsively hid herself behind the closest tree. Barely a second after she had crouched down behind the gnarly trunk, something huge burst through the surface of the lake – something far too huge to be a bubble.

It was a machine – a metal man whose fragmented body glinted spectacularly beneath the stars. Easily seventeen feet in height; it let out a slight groan, more relieved than annoyed or pained, as it placed both three-fingered hands on the damp embankment and hauled itself onto dry land. Water streamed from its angular yet somehow rounded head and shoulders, splattering to the ground as it rolled onto its back and simply lay there for a moment. Its eyes seemed to glow through the darkness; a pure, gentle, crystalline shade of blue.

Eva swallowed hard and made to step out from behind the tree, but the emergence of two more giant machines from the depths of the lake prompted her to recede once more behind the knotted column of wood. Neither of the second two machines were quite as big as the first; one was compact and slick, lithe in movement as it vaulted out of the water and onto the bank, whereas the other was decidedly more slender and effeminate – if such a term could be applied to a giant robot. Both machines had eyes that emitted the same blue glow as those of the first, albeit with slightly different designs.

The first alien sat up, watching its fellow machines trail water as they approached. "You call that a landing?" it asked. Eva was surprised by its oddly human tones. The question seemed to be directed toward the more compact machine, which placed a hand on its hip with a _thunk_. This one had four fingers on each hand.

"Next time we're spiralling toward a rocky planet with no power and only one wing, _you_ can fly the fraggin' ship," it shot. Its voice, also that of a male, was much younger than that of the larger robot, and laced with cocky sarcasm.

Before the other could open its mouth to retort, the female placed herself coolly between them. The semi-argument dissolved at once as she cast her gaze over the biggest of their number. "Get up," she said. Her voice was clear and snappish, authoritarian. The biggest machine complied with apparent difficulty, noisily swiping the dirt from the panels of his backside. "We need to move. The 'Cons are probably already on our tail – let's split up and spread out, and make sure to scan a new form along the way. We'll regroup in five megacycles."

Without another word – the female swerved around her tall companion in a sudden run, each footfall shaking loose several leaves of nearby trees as she vaulted onto the raised embankment and disappeared into the forest. The compact machine-man followed suit, heading at a sprint down the woodland-enclosed road – but the first one remained where he was. Eva gawped up at him from her hiding place, watching with bated breath as he inspected his immediate surroundings.

The robot's optics fell upon Vicky's car, which was still parked in neutral at the edge of the embankment. Eva bit her lip as it stepped up onto the raised ground, rather more slowly than the other two aliens had, and towered over the vehicle. She felt her eyes widen as some kind of beam abruptly shot from its own, the greenish ray sweeping over the body of the car. It took no more than three seconds for the robot to scan the vehicle, and suddenly the panels of its body began to move; rearranging themselves at lightning speed into a radically different formation to that which they had previously adopted. The robot stooped, its frame clunking into a sturdy rectangular shape even as she watched – and then there were two ancient Sedans parked above the edge of the lake.

They were identical in almost every detail, right down to the number on the registration plate. The only conceivable difference that Eva could spot through her shock was that the robot-turned-Sedan was considerably less battered and dirty. Its engine snarled to life – nothing like the pitiful coughing of the original – headlamps flooding on, before the alien car rolled forward onto the road and began to drive away.

Eva stepped out from behind the tree, gawping after the vehicle. Words utterly failed her; it was all she could do to remain on her feet as the twin Sedan disappeared into the shadows of the forest.


	4. Convergence

The deep blue TVR Sagaris that was Relay's alternate form tore along a straight stretch of road, tyres squealing and engine roaring as he weaved expertly between the much slower and much less exotic vehicles in his path. Slick and streamlined; he ignored the horn-honks and angered human yells as he overtook them, the Doppler effect distorting the fleshy insects' foul words. He couldn't care less what they were saying; the Decepticon had much more personal things on his processor.

"Recon…_you're better at that_," he uttered to himself, childishly mimicking the cruel voice of his commander. He then let out an irritated 'humph', shifting up a gear as he sped through the cluttered streets. "Heck does _she_ know? I could take down all of those fraggin' Autobots if only she'd _let_ me…"

But despite his venting many hundreds of miles from the Bandit, Relay knew that he would never have the courage to voice such thoughts directly to Jetstream's faceplates – at least, not if he wanted his own to remain intact. She'd tear him into scrap metal the nanoklik he breathed a single word against her; it had happened before, after all. That poor Vehicon… Relay had never seen anything like it: so much debris, so many vital components littering the Bandit's halls. He shuddered internally as he passed the signpost that marked the boundary of Boulstridge. If nothing else, he was a survivalist – and watching Jetstream rip that unwitting soldier servo from servo had taught him a very valuable lesson about discretion. He could be as disrespectful to his commander as he wanted, so long as it was done in private.

Relay perked up some when he spotted an immobile gathering of cars dead ahead. They were parked in neat rows, the front of the queue beginning just before some kind of metal pole with three lights fixed onto the top. The highest light was currently brightest, but the Decepticon was clueless as to what its red colour signified. Irritated, he slammed hard on his brakes; screeching to a halt at the back of the line.

"What's the holdup?" he demanded, sounding his horn a few times. A human shouted some insult or other from the car in front, to which he responded by violently revving his engine. "Move it, fleshbags! Get outta my way!"

"Be quiet, will you? You're giving me a processor-ache."

Relay's gaze fell upon an extremely outdated car, parked motionless and idling in the next lane. The sight prompted his internal sensors to spike abruptly. It was long and heavy-looking, coloured teal and white, and emitting a Cybertronian energy signature. The word 'Fairlane' was written neatly along the side in curly silver lettering, the Autobot insignia emblazoned underneath. At one time on this miserable planet, such a car might have been seen as rather classy – but the Decepticon couldn't keep himself from laughing as he studied his new rival.

"That alt mode's a joke, right?" he sniggered. "What a junker! What'd you scan, a scrap heap?"

"As well as manners, you'd do well to learn a thing or two about this planet's traffic laws," the Autobot replied curtly. "See that red light there? It means 'stop'. As in – stop trying to take over the universe, you psychopath."

"I don't care about _this planet's traffic laws_," snapped Relay, imitating the Autobot's voice as he had done with Jetstream's before. "And _you'd_ do well to show me some respect. Little glitch – who d'you think you are?"

The Sedan revved its engine, which sounded surprisingly loud and healthy for such an old car. "Are you going to pick a fight with me, or not?"

Relay hesitated. His automatic response would have been to switch forms right there and then and kick the chrome out of this fool's rediculously-long door – but the memory of his commander's harsh voice suddenly pierced his processor, making him flinch. He revved his own engine again instead, unintentionally mimicking its growl.

"Turns out today's your lucky day," he shot. "S'much as I'd love to tangle, Autobot, I got orders _not_ to kick your ugly skidplate – but you'd better keep your optics peeled. Because next time, I'm gonna be the last thing you ever see!"

Tyres screeching, Relay floored his accelerator and lurched forward into drive; he mounted the curb and veered around the red light, speeding away down the road. The Autobot watched him disappear into the traffic, patiently waiting for the queue of cars ahead to clear. A tired-looking woman and her young son reached the nearby crosswalk just as the traffic light turned green; the woman stooped to retie her son's shoelace, so she didn't see the blue-green and white Sedan pull away – but the boy certainly did. He also saw, though his mother would flatly refuse to believe him for the rest of the journey home, that there was no one in the driver's seat.

* * *

><p>Eva was sitting in front of the oven on the carpeted kitchen floor, peering into the hot depths of its grill as she watched both slices of bread within steadily turn brown. There were clumps of sleep in the corners of her eyes, her hair still drawn into the tousled ponytail in which she had slept. Or, at least, on which she had lain. She had been too excited to sleep – who wouldn't, after witnessing what she had? It had taken her several minutes of simply sitting in Vicky's car, trying to calm herself down, before she felt herself capable of driving safely home, and even then she hadn't so much as <em>thought<em> about succumbing to tiredness. Countless sheets of paper and an assortment of pencils still littered the desk in her bedroom, scrawled with a haphazard collection of frantically scribbled notes and shaky-handed sketches – her attempt to make physical the memory of all she had seen.

She rubbed one eye with the back of her hand and knelt up, still feeling a little jittery inside. Benedict rubbed himself against her knees as she reached into the grill and gingerly turned her breakfast over, mewing demandingly. She paid the kitten little heed, however; distracted as the sound of swift footfalls approaching from above met her ears. Leaning back against the unit beneath the sink, Eva watched through the open kitchen doorway as a casually-dressed Vicky rounded the banister at the foot of the stairs and stepped into the hall.

"You look like hell," was the first thing that the older woman said.

"Good morning to you, too," Eva sniffed, as Benedict began kneading the side of her thigh for attention. She ruffled the fur of the kitten's head in response, but chose not to say anything more. She watched as Vicky entered the kitchen and picked up a clean glass that had previously stood abandoned on the sideboard, and leaned forward so that her aunt could fill it with water from the tap.

Vicky drained half of the freshly filled glass in three successive gulps. "Rough night?" she asked, wiping her mouth with the back of one hand. Eva simply responded with an expression that read 'you might say that', before lifting the tiny Birman into her lap. Vicky raised the glass to her lips again, but paused; observing her niece over its rim. "Did the Martians keep you awake?"

The two humans had already crossed paths with one another that morning. Vicky, recently woken from slumber by her warm and furry alarm clock, had been on her way to the bathroom when Eva rushed across the landing and seized her hands. The ecstatic teenager had then proceeded to tell her a fascinating story – one that her semi-sleeping brain had automatically filed into the 'nonsense – check back later' folder. Something about aliens and spaceships and her clunky old Sedan. Eva had been understanding when her aunt had politely shrugged her off and meandered into the bathroom, but now she was regarding her peer with what could only be described as disappointment written into every sleepy line of her face.

"You don't believe me, do you?" she said.

Vicky's own face fell sympathetically. "Honey… aliens don't exist," she replied, as though explaining that there was no such thing as Santa to a six-year-old. "What you witnessed was the workings of a beautiful dream, brought on by the elation of having finally finished all of your exams. I _understand_."

"What about what I drew?" Eva insisted, sitting up from the unit. She gestured toward the ceiling, indicating her bedroom. "Those sketches I showed you – of the aliens and their ship?"

"They're just sketches, honey – which you drew after waking from your wonderful dream," Vicky stated with a shake of the head. "Eva… you need to come back to reality. I know that the life on this planet doesn't really interest you – can't say I'm loving it too much either lately – but if aliens really did exist, don't you think they would have made contact with us by now?"

"They did – _last night_."

Vicky shook her head once more, and drained the rest of her water. "Besides," she began, as she placed the glass upside-down in the sink. "If a… UFO… _did_ crash into Lake Rosemary, then don't you think there would have been something on the news already?"

Eva gently deposited Benedict onto the floor and rose to her feet, toast forgotten. "Okay, so maybe I dreamed the alien part up – but I saw _something_ sink into that lake last night," she reasoned. "Maybe it was a meteorite. Even you know that those exist; and you should also know that they're worth a lot of money."

Vicky's eyes seemed to brighten as soon as the final word left her niece's mouth, but she managed to retain an air of composure by slowly folding her arms. "Oh, really?"

"Yes, really," smiled Eva. She then pursed her lips, honeying the tones of her voice. "It would be an awful shame if someone else fished out the pieces before we did – becoming _rich and famous_ in a matter of minutes while we stand here, arguing about what's real and what's not."

Rich… famous… Vicky positively glowed at the prospect. She seemed to think it over for a second, tracing the contours of her bottom lip with one finger, before a wry smile creased her expression. "Now that _would_ be a shame, wouldn't it?" she replied. Turning slowly on her heel, she then retreated from the kitchen and began to head back up the stairs toward her bedroom. "Alright, stargazer – get dressed for a space-rock hunting session. But don't forget to turn off the grill… and feed that poor cat, for pity's sake."

* * *

><p>The woodland surrounding Lake Rosemary looked and sounded radically different to how it had last night, as though the mere passage of a few hours had transformed it from a scene out of some horror movie into an idyllic forest haven. Delicate, twinkling birdsong accented the humid air; tiny mammals darted through the undergrowth, colourful insects flitting idly from plant to plant as Vicky's Sedan followed the natural path that crawled between the trees. Their leaves flushed golden-yellow in the glorious summer sun, rustling and chafing beneath a rhythmic breeze.<p>

Eva directed her aunt toward the clearing where she had watched the three aliens emerge from the lake, sitting in the passenger seat with a large plastic bucket in her lap. The bucket was just to make Vicky happy; she knew that they wouldn't find any chunks of meteorite to haul home in it, but at least this way she looked slightly more 'back to reality'. In addition to the usual pair of jeans, despite the heat, she was dressed in a long-sleeved shirt beneath a ribbed tank top, hair pulled back into a high ponytail. Vicky, on the other hand, wore a white halterneck and matching capris – though had tied a pale sweater around her waist, just in case.

Unlike her niece, Vicky opted to turn off the engine as she parked her car near the embankment. Both young women within opened their respective doors and stepped out, the carpet of foliage crunching gently beneath their feet. "Alright, Eva," Vicky began evasively, nudging the driver's side door over with her hip as she rested both hands on the roof. "Show me where I can make my millions."

Bucket in hand, Eva led her toward the slope that slanted down to the water's edge. She vaulted it without fear, but her aunt was a little more hesitant. It had been several years since Vicky had done anything even remotely athletic. Unsteadily, and with a slight gasp as she momentarily last her balance, she slid down the embankment and joined her niece at the rim of the lake.

The water was as still and calm as glass, a dark veil stretching for what seemed like miles before the two of them. Lush woodland enclosed the horizon, but the spectacular view wasn't what they had travelled here to appreciate. Eva pointed out toward the middle of the lake with her free hand, indicating the spot where she had watched the alien ship go down.

"It was right over there," she said, lowering her hand. "If what I saw _was_ a meteorite… then chunks might have broken off when it hit the surface. There could be pieces in the shallows."

"Then let's start with that," Vicky replied, slipping out of her shoes.

Eva watched her step into the ankle-deep water at the edge of the lake, raising an eyebrow as she stooped down and began to rummage with both hands through the silt and pebbles. Her aunt was dressed surprisingly appropriately for the job in hand – though white might have been a mistake. Eva deposited the bucket atop a rotten tree stump nearby and started forward, discarding her converse before similarly walking out into the water.

She waded a little further than Vicky, not bothering to pull up the hems of her jeans as she went. Given the current outdoor temperature, getting her clothes wet might not exactly be a bad idea. As she moved, she fished a small pair of swimming goggles from her back pocket – but was careful not to let Vicky see them. She strode deeper, knowing that they wouldn't find anything in the shallows – not pieces of rock, anyway. What Eva was looking for was metal. The distance between the lake's surface and the ground soon became too much for her to walk normally, so she began treading water instead as she fastened the goggles over her eyes.

Vicky caught sight of her and realised what she was going to do with a start – but it was already too late for her to protest. Before she could so much as open her mouth; Eva had thrown herself forward – arms first – into a dive, and was promptly swallowed up by the water. Vicky stood motionless in the shallows, staring at the cluster of bubbles that was all that remained of her niece, too shocked to move or call after her.

The harsh sunlight filtered oddly through the water of Lake Rosemary, its shimmering rays chasing Eva downward as she kicked her way toward the depths. She was no expert swimmer, but she knew how to dive quickly and come back up within the limits of a single captive breath. Even so; she knew herself incapable of swimming all the way to the bottom without some sort of respiratory aid.

As it turned out – such a device was entirely unnecessary. Through the darkness of the murky depths, a pale shape loomed into view from its resting place at the bottom of the lake. She slowed her descent to simply gawp at it; surprise flooding her body despite the knowledge that there was no way it could have possibly been moved since last night.

Already half-buried in silt and dirt, the alien spacecraft was every bit as big and beautiful as she remembered. She tried to memorise the shapes of the faded inscriptions on its hull, but they were far too complex for her mind to retain in detail. One shape stood out to her, however, because it was much more condensed and simplistic than the others. It looked like a face, stern and rigid, coloured in a flat but bold shade of crimson. There was something angular about it – something blunt. Eva didn't know for how long she stared at it: the only thing that made her turn away from the sight was the pressure that was slowly building in her lungs. She allowed herself to drift upright, and then began a hurried ascent back toward the realm of oxygen.

Vicky had left the shallows to pace on dry land during her niece's absence from view – but her anxiety only seemed to double as something abruptly broke the surface of the lake. "What do you think you're _doing_?" she gasped, whipping around to see the bobbing auburn mess that was the back of Eva's head. She rushed forward a few steps into the water, not seeming to care that the splashes from her heavy footfalls were staining her trousers. Eva slowly rotated on the spot to face her, panting in success as she removed the goggles from her face.

"I found it-!" she gasped, unable to accurately interpret her aunt's expression through the euphoria or proving herself right. "The ship – I found it!"

Vicky did not look impressed. "_Evangeline_!" she shot. Eva finally noticed the horror in her tone, and her beaming smile faltered. Vicky's hands were clenched, shoulders tense, a hot flush about her face. Her shadowed eyes glittered strangely in the bright sunlight. "Get back here _right now_, young lady. I mean it!"

Suddenly incapable of meeting her aunt's stare, Eva was sure to keep her head above the surface as she swam toward the earthen bank. Her toes brushed solid ground and she shifted into an uptight stance, wading toward the shore, a painful awkwardness settling on her chest. She stepped onto dry land, drenched through to the core, but remained silent as Vicky untied the sweater from her own waist and began to pat her niece down with it.

"You need to be more careful…" she muttered, using her sweater as a makeshift towel in attempt to dry her. There were tears in her eyes, but she countered them with a forced expression that betrayed nothing but firm authority. "_Please_. We both lost your mother this way… I don't want to lose you, too."

Eva was too ashamed of herself to say anything. Of course… no wonder Vicky was so upset: it was the reason their house had been installed with a shower instead of a bathtub. Eva had only been nine years old when it happened, so she couldn't remember – but Vicky could, in all too much detail. She had been the one who found the body, after all, and Eva knew that discovering the corpses of loved ones was never easy.

Vicky stooped slightly to meet her niece's eyes, a false smile on her face. "Come on… let's go home," she said, squeezing her shoulders. "We need to get you dry."

Eva nodded once, casting her gaze downward. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. Vicky didn't reply, but took her gently by the hand and began to lead her back toward the Sedan.

The sound of two powerful engines met the humans' ears as Vicky opened the driver-side door, clashing oddly with the music of the forest. Or, it _would_ have – had the woodland not suddenly been as silent as a mortuary. Not a single chirp rose from the trees; though several alarmed birds erupted from their perches instead as two unfamiliar cars came roaring into view down the road. One was a slick blue sports car, the other a burly black pickup. Through her confusion, Eva recognised the latter as a Ford F150 Raptor.

The sports car abruptly fell back behind the pickup, but the Ford continued to tear closer at terrifying speed. Then, without warning, it exploded. Thousands of metal parts erupted outward and snapped quickly back, the entire vehicle restructuring itself into the shape of a colossal man in the blink of an eye. The wheels had suddenly become its ankles, and continued to carry the still-changing machine forward at death-defying velocity until it brought its enormous hands crashing to the forest floor and launched into some kind of somersault. Mouth agape, Vicky found herself unable to move as the gargantuan machine spiralled through the air toward her – but Eva was not stunned enough by the transformation to freeze in place. She seized her aunt by the wrist and wrenched her backward into a run; the humans had barely sprinted clear of the car when a sudden explosion knocked the both of them clean off their feet, slamming them into the trunks of nearby trees. Eva rolled to a halt and shielded her head as shards of hot debris rained down around her, waiting until some form of calm had settled before opening her eyes wide.

The black titan straightened up atop the crushed, burning mass of scrap metal that had once been Vicky's car; as the humans watched, it seemed to roll one of its broad shoulders, as though working out a crick that had built during its time in vehicle mode. This robot was _much_ bigger than the ones she had seen emerge from the lake – and certainly much less approachable. She could hear the creaking of its limbs as it shifted its immense weight, making sure to step on every inch of the destroyed Sedan. Paralysed by fear and shock as she suddenly found herself sprawled on her back in the dirt, Vicky raised both hands to cover her mouth, incomprehensible whispers slipping between her trembling fingers.

"Kingpin!" snapped a sudden, irritated voice. The sports car was gone – a dangerous-looking blue robot glowered in its place. It punched its much larger companion in the side, unable to reach any higher, the contact sending sparks into the air but not appearing to faze the metal monster that used to be a pickup truck. "The hell'd you do that for?"

"I thought you said it was an Autobot."

"I said that was what the Autobot _looked like_, you lunkhead!" the blue machine retorted. "Why don'cha use your scanners and not your fists for a change?"

Its companion seemed to flinch, stepping off the ex-Sedan. It stared around for a moment, crimson-coloured optics soon falling upon the humans. They had shifted into kneeling positions in the clearing and were huddled together, gripping each other's clothes for support as they shrank under the weight of the titan's gaze. "Hey, Relay?" it began, in a voice as deep as thunder. The smaller robot glanced up at him, and then followed its partner's line of sight.

"Well, well," sneered Relay. He started forwards, something of a swagger in his step. Eva and Vicky clung to one another, too intimidated by the approaching monster to speak or move, their petrified stares demanding protection and explanations that they felt sure would never come. He dropped to his sharp hands and knees before the two trembling humans, a smirk on his scratched faceplates as he loomed menacingly over them. "Hi there. Now… why don't you tell me where the _real_ Autobot junker is, and then we'll be on our way."


	5. The White Knight

Evangeline Larsson had always wished that aliens were real. She had spent countless childhood nights gazing out of her bedroom window, vigilantly waiting for any sign which might indicate that humankind was not alone in the universe. Not twelve hours ago, she had witnessed a strange spacecraft crash down into the lake by her home, and watched in amazement as three humungous machines emerged from within to take their first steps on planet Earth. But now, as she crouched on the forest floor in wet clothes with her body pressed fearfully alongside that of her aunt, she simply wished to go home to where everything made sense and was safe.

'Safe' was the very last word that came to mind when gawping up at the gleaming, metallic body of the Decepticon named Relay. He hunched over them, angular fingers slicing through the undergrowth as he waited for the humans to respond. Though it was eerily tempting to inspect the complex twists and knots of mechanical wiring that could be glimpsed between his sky blue panelling, the components looking nothing like the sports car as which he had previously disguised himself, Eva found it impossible to look away from the glowing red 'eyes' that pinned her to the dirt from his unnervingly humanlike face. The smell of burning metal and rubber filled her lungs, rising from the scrapheap that had not long ceased to be Vicky's car.

As she watched, Relay's faceplates rearranged themselves without warning – morphing from a falsely pleasant expression into what could only be described as a scowl. "Well?" he spat. The humans flinched, clawing at each other in their panic, both wishing that the forest floor would miraculously open and swallow them up. Relay leaned in closer, moving so that his head was inches from their own. "I ain't got all solarcycle. _Where's the Autobot_?"

Vicky's grip suddenly wavered; Eva squeezed her shoulders tightly to keep her aunt from fainting. She summoned every ounce of her courage, drawing herself up where she knelt. "We don't know what you're talking about," she replied, her voice sounding much shakier than she intended. Relay angled his head to the side, but continued to look straight into her eyes. She tried hard not to blink, able to feel the ground shuddering rhythmically as Relay's bulky partner – an ebony-coloured monstrosity named Kingpin – approached. The much larger Decepticon came to a halt nearby, bear-sized hands on his hips, squinting with slight difficulty down at the pair of tiny humans.

"Do I look stupid?" Relay snapped, digging his fingers into the dirt. Vicky shook her head frantically, mouth open in would have been a pleading scream if she were capable of producing sound at that moment in time. The Decepticon suddenly raised a hand and slammed it into the ground with enough force to snap a tree in two, prompting the humans to detach from one another and attempt to scramble away on their backsides. An abrupt smirk contorted his faceplates as he watched them frantically try to escape – it gave him an idea, one that Eva was certain they weren't going to like. "Okay… maybe you just need a little _incentive_."

Relay extended one hand, reaching for Eva, as though intending to seize her in his icy grip and squeeze out the information he wanted to hear. She tried to propel herself away from his outstretched claw-like fingers, too pumped with adrenaline to plead for mercy as she scrambled back through the fallen leaves and twigs – but his hand was approaching too quickly. Abandoning the thought of flight, she threw herself flat to the ground and covered her head; squeezing her eyes shut tight like child pretending to be invisible during a harmless game of hide-and-seek.

A swift whizzing sound pierced the ominous silence of the forest, followed almost immediately by a blood-curdling howl. Eva felt someone grab hold of her shoulders – but it wasn't Relay. It was Vicky. Eva gawped at her as they both hastened to their feet, but froze when she followed the direction of her aunt's eyes. One of Relay's giant fingers was lying amongst the undergrowth before them, twitching sporadically, leaking the same blue liquid that was suddenly pouring from the Decepticon's hand. He clutched his injured limb to his chest, kicking back away from the humans, as Kingpin leaned over him with his own hands raised in a state of shock.

"What happened?" he asked stupidly, staring around. "Sniper?"

The roar of an engine burst to life in the distance, rapidly approaching as the Decepticons gaped around for the source. Eva saw it first – and her jaw dropped open. It looked exactly like Vicky's Sedan, but was tearing toward them down the woodland path at a speed far greater than either of them had ever clocked in it.

"It's him!" she gasped.

Only when mere metres separated it from the Decepticons did the Sedan transform. The front grille split in two and became a chest, licence plate kicking downward to fix where the base of its ribcage would be. The windshield sheared clean and an armoured head burst forth, led by those familiar crystal-blue optics, heavy metal limbs breaking open from the rigid chassis of the car. The robot let out a yell and dived in a flying tackle toward Kingpin, who bared rusted teeth and tensed his broad shoulders in anticipation.

They collided with an ear-splitting crunch of metal, the Autobot's airborne attack knocking the much larger Kingpin clean off his feet. The Decepticon brought up a stumpy leg as they slammed together against the solid earth, kicking the ex-Sedan loose with ease. His grip of Kingpin lost, the Autobot's own momentum carried him much farther than initially planned – he flew uncontrollably through the air and crashed through several trees, eventually rolling to a stunned halt some distance from the humans.

Eva and Vicky looked on in terror as both Decepticons turned on their winded saviour. Ignoring his damaged hand, Relay picked himself up from the ground as his narrow shoulders began to reconfigure themselves. Two futuristic-looking blaster cannons – quite small compared to the rest of his body but still huge in the eyes of the humans – formed from the moving panels, their barrels beginning to charge a hot shade of red. "Look who's here," he sneered, completely forgetting their fleshy audience as he started forward. Kingpin flexed his right arm, chuckling darkly as it too reconfigured into some sort of cannon. "Pretty sneaky, shooting from a distance. I'm gonna have to offline you for that."

The Autobot struggled upright, broken branches raining from his shoulders. "That wasn't me," he stated, smirking.

Without warning, the Autobot launched forwards – both forearms swiftly converting into heavy blasters as the Decepticons opened fire. Vicky and Eva dashed for cover, but knew from what they had just witnessed that trees alone could not protect them. Pinned between the lake and three giant fighting machines, they quickly realised that there was nowhere to run.

Despite their immense difference in brawn, the Autobot was somehow gaining the upper hand against Kingpin. The Decepticon's crimson cannon-blasts were powerful enough to level several trees with each burst, but his opponent was evidently much more highly-trained in the art of wielding firearms. He ducked and dived between Kingpin's attacks, the rapid flurry of his own aimed at the Decepticon's feet. Rage building as he found himself unable to hold a position and get a good aim, the black robot swung wildly with his regular arm – the Autobot sidestepped the fierce lunge and kicked his attacker hard in the back, causing him to overbalance and fall flat on his face. The ground shook violently as Kingpin found his face planted in the dirt, robbing both humans of their balance. Relay whipped around to the sound of Vicky's cry as she landed painfully amidst the roots of a gnarly oak. His expression darkened as he caught sight of the humans; he rounded on them, their potential usefulness expired, blood-coloured blasters at the ready – but he was robbed of the chance to silence some irritating fleshbags. The Autobot suddenly appeared behind him and seized his shoulder with one hand, spinning him around in such a way as to formally introduce his fist to the Decepticon's faceplates.

The Autobot's gaze fell upon the humans as Relay reeled back in pain. He looked worried all of a sudden, but hardly surprised to see them. "I'm gonna get you both out of here," he said, dropping to one knee as he spoke and reconfiguring an arm back into weapon mode. He gave a swift smile as Eva and Vicky gaped up at him, but his expression quickly became serious again. "Please stay here. I'll be right b-"

Eva flinched as something hot suddenly splashed across her cheek. The Sedan-turned-robot threw his free hand to the ground, shock flaring in his face as he doubled over, gasping for breath. Vicky raised a trembling hand to touch her own face, withdrawing it to find blotches of blue fluid staining her fingertips.

Relay was standing directly behind the Autobot, spitting like a cat, the silver internals of his undamaged arm configured into a long, bladelike edge that extended from his wrist. The tip of the blade, stained azure, was hovering centimetres before the humans' noses – having passed clean through the Autobot's torso.

"Sneak attack," he sneered triumphantly.

With a grunt, Relay dragged his deadly forearm back out of his opponent. The humans watched, stunned into silence, as the Autobot struggled to support himself for a moment – but eventually succumbed to the agony flooding his circuits and fell flat onto his front. Her mind blank, Eva staggered across the metre or so of uneven ground that separated her from her saviour, and flung herself into a kneeling position beside his armoured head. The robot was completely unresponsive to her presence, optic shields pressed shut against the pain of his wounds. Eva stared into the metal plains of his face, able to feel herself trembling as she tried to wake him, but soon raised her eyes to glare up at the towering form of Relay as Vicky dropped into a crouch beside her niece.

"How sweet," Relay smirked, glancing toward his partner. Kingpin had righted himself and was slowly approaching, grinning menacingly. Relay then returned his gaze to the humans, a sinister gleam about his optics. "You look like you wanna _play_. Shall we tangle, human?"

A sudden roar of engines stopped the Decepticons cold: two unfamiliar vehicles burst from between the trees on opposite sides of the clearing, flanking the offenders. One was an angular Nissan GTR, painted a stealthy midnight blue, the other an orange and black Triumph Daytona 675 – but neither car nor motorbike remained in their terrestrial disguises for very long. Though their shapes were altered by the addition of components from their new vehicular forms, Eva recognised the rapidly-transforming robots as the ones she had watched emerge from the lake after their now-wounded comrade.

"Sure –_I'll_ fight you!" grinned the stocky Nissan-bot, tones youthful and brash, beaming mischievously as Relay backed into his flustered partner from the shock of suddenly finding himself cornered.

The female, the motorcycle, stared through her visor and into the scope of the enormous sniper rifle that was her left forearm, pinning the faltering Decepticons in its crosshairs. "If you wish to keep your remaining fingers," she began, her voice stern and cool. "I suggest that you vacate this area immediately."

Relay clutched his damaged hand to his chest self-consciously, shooting a furious glare in her direction. After what felt to the humans like an age of uncertainty, the smallest robot present let a 'tch' sound escape his vocal processors and sheathed his mechanical blade. "Let's split," he growled to his oversized partner. Kingpin glanced down at him, surprised that he would run from a fight. "Strategic withdrawal – we got what we came for."

Without another word, the Decepticons lithely dropped into their vehicular modes and stepped on the gas. The female machine made sure to keep their retreating forms in her sights as they fled, but her younger-sounding comrade seemed to have other things on his mind. He approached the unmoving ex-Sedan, falling into a crouch beside him. His youthful face fell when he spotted Eva and Vicky partially hiding behind their saviour's shoulder, but he chose not to address them.

Instead; he placed a hand on his comrade's back, between the long car doors which were attached like insect wings to the equivalent of his shoulder blades. The Sedan-turned-robot cracked open his optics, staring straight ahead – at Eva – for a moment as though dazed. Eva gazed into his 'eyes', surprised by the sudden contact almost as much as she was the gentleness in his stare.

"Uppercut?" the Nissan asked uncertainly.

Blinking back to reality, it seemed, the teal and white Autobot inclined his head to stare at the robot leaning over him. "Rebound," he said, sounding relieved. He attempted to smile, somehow managing to look condescending through the pain. "What took you?"

The Nissan – Rebound – helped his comrade into a sitting position with slight difficulty. Eva and Vicky backed away, giving them room to manoeuvre, but were both too awestruck by their size to turn tail and run back toward sanity. On the contrary; running was the last thing on Eva's mind as she spotted a large pool of blue fluid from her saviour's wound, staining the flora a strange shade of cobalt where it had seeped into the undergrowth.

"He's hurt-!" she heard herself say, and regretted it almost instantly. The fact that the Sedan – Uppercut – was badly damaged could not have been missed by even the most obtuse observer. Vicky stared at her with wide eyes, as though unnerved by how composed she seemed whilst talking to a pair of giant robots. Rebound checked the wound, his expression hardening as he did so. "You can help him, can't you?"

"Cool your engines, little lady…" the Autobot named Rebound grumbled quietly, not quite meeting her gaze. Eva couldn't tell if his inability to look her in the eye was because he simply didn't like talking to humans, or because the situation was more severe than he'd care to admit. He then rotated his upper torso, glancing back to where the female of the machines' number was stationed with sniper rifle still raised. "Oi, Longscope! The 'Cons are long gone – now are you gonna help me out over here?"

As he spoke, Rebound shifted his stance so that his midnight-blue body blocked their companion's view of the humans. The female turned sharply to face her comrades, her arm returning to its normal state as she swiftly crossed the clearing to kneel beside them. She removed Uppercut's hand from atop his stomach, exposing the splintered metal and sheared internal components he had been attempting to cover, unflinching as he hissed in pained protest. Eva and Vicky leaned curiously around Rebound's side, watching as more of the same blue liquid leaked unpromisingly from the gaping hole in his panelling.

"We should move," said Longscope, rising back to her angular feet with military speed and precision. "The Decepticons will likely return in force shortly. We need to get you somewhere safe to administer repairs, before you lose too much energon."

"What about the humans?" Uppercut asked, already seeming rather unsteady in the act of supporting his own weight.

Longscope looked directly into his optics, her own narrowed in suspicion behind her visor. "Humans?" she repeated. Rebound flinched at the word, then again as she snapped her stare across to him, before reluctantly leaning to the side. Eva and Vicky suddenly found themselves exposed to the cycle-bot's shocked gaze, the former managing a tiny wave of the hand in attempt to break the ice. Longscope looked away from them, turning angrily to face her wounded comrade. "You _allowed_ them to see you?"

"What could I do?" Uppercut shot, trying to sit up but recoiling in pain. "It was either that, or let them get crushed by 'Cons. What would you have done?"

Longscope didn't answer right away – but when she did, her tone was severe. "Humankind must not become concerned with _our_ war," she uttered. Eva and Vicky exchanged confused glances, but said nothing. "Their involvement will only result in casualties – _human_ casualties."

"They already _are_ involved," replied Uppercut, his frame beginning to shake from the effort of propping himself upright.

Longscope opened her mouth to verbally retaliate – but Rebound suddenly cut across her. "_Guys_," he insisted urgently. Once sure he had both of their attentions, he pointed deliberately toward his comrade's wound. "Clock's ticking. I thought you wanted us to move, or are my audios on the fritz?"

Longscope folded her slender arms, contemplating something for a moment. She then returned her stare to Uppercut, who scowled right back. "Can you transform?" she asked quietly.

"I think so," he replied, sounding slightly surprised by her question.

She nodded once, and then turned away from her fellow machines – dropping smoothly into a crouch before the humans. Vicky stepped closer to her niece, subconsciously seizing a handful of her damp sleeve, swallowing hard as the robot leaned over them in a much less intimidating way than Relay had before. "The Decepticons know your faces," she began, swift and clear. Eva repeated the unfamiliar word, but Longscope ignored her. "You are in grave danger. Your safest option would be to come with us, until arrangements can be made."

"Arrangements?" asked Eva, but was again completely overlooked as Longscope straightened and took a step back from them. She watched in amazement as the black and orange machine seemed to implode without warning; the transformation into two-wheeled vehicle form was almost as rapid as Longscope's military attitude. A sleek Daytona suddenly stood before them, somehow supporting its own weight without the kickstand in place, a familiar orange insignia inscribed between its headlights. Eva made to glance back at the other two Autobots, but was surprised to see that they too had restored their vehicular disguises. The black-blue Nissan that was Rebound rolled slowly towards them, front doors opening seemingly of their own accord.

It was then that Vicky finally found her courage. "Now you can all just hold it _right there_!" she stated, placing her hands on her hips. Eva couldn't help but falter in the face of her aunt's frustration. Vicky strode forward, passing the Nissan, and angrily gestured toward the smoking scrapheap that was her destroyed Sedan. "What about my car? Who's going to pay for that – or get me a replacement? My great-grandfather bought that thing with hard-earned money back in-"

"We'll deal with it later," Rebound hastened, revving his engine as if to emphasize the need to quicken the pace. A lone glance between Uppercut's tyres told Eva that he was still leaking vital fluids at an alarming pace, despite his lack of verbal complaint. Perhaps she was imagining it; but she noticed that his wing mirrors seemed to be drooping slightly, however.

Before Vicky could challenge their saviours further, Eva stepped forward and took her by the hand. "Hey… Vick?" she began, forcing an encouraging smile. The anger in her aunt's face disappeared in an instant, replaced by a strange combination of confusion and self-pity. It was the look of a woman who simply did not know what to do or who to believe – someone too taxed by a crazy day's events to care what happened next. "I think they're right – after all, we're miles from home with no other mode of transportation besides them and our feet. And I don't know about you, but I'm just a tad too tired to walk."

Vicky studied her carefully, tiredly, the eye-contact between the humans only broken when Eva gave a hopeful smile and turned to approach where Rebound was waiting. Vicky stood there in the forest clearing for a moment longer, contemplating the situation. Eva had been right all along… she really _had_ seen alien robots crash down into Lake Rosemary last night. With an anxious heart, her once-white clothes stained with dirt and energon, Victoria Archer started forwards and followed her niece into the Nissan.


	6. Cybertron

Drifting some ten-thousand kilometres above the Earth; the Decepticon ship known as the Bandit cruised on a solitary orbital path, cloaked from the probing stares of primitive human satellites. A brilliant icy-green aurora rippled across the surface of the Earth far below, shaft-like tendrils flaring to a deep shade of crimson as they reached for the upper atmosphere, the remarkable magnetic flux rolling and shifting as the countless electrons and oxygen atoms within slammed together in a glorious display of light and colour.

But despite its utter magnificence, the spectacle went unnoticed by the Bandit's crew. Such cosmic events were nothing unusual – nothing they hadn't seen a thousand times before on their interstellar journeys through the vastness of space. Jetstream in particular cared little for stargazing; especially now, as she stood and fumed in the medical bay of her ship.

Relay was hunched before her, perched like an uneasy protoform on the edge of an examination table, one of his servos locked inside some sort of holding apparatus that was bolted to the table. His hand protruded through the end of the clamp, charred and stained with energon, one digit missing as a souvenir from his first fighting-encounter with the Autobots. Another Decepticon stood nearby – the Bandit's designated medical officer. His jagged black and gold body glinted in the glow of the spectacular light show outside the ship, ruby-coloured optics narrowed as he focused his attention on something resting on the workbench nearby.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Jetstream began, her voice slicing dangerously through the silence of the ship. Relay flinched, keeping his gaze fixed downward as he waited for the proverbial excrement to hit the fan belt. "But I seem to recall myself specifically ordering you _not_ to engage the Autobots, if you were so lucky as to discover them."

"You… ain't wrong, commander," Relay muttered sheepishly, as the medic strolled over to him and began poking carelessly at his wound. The blue-panelled Decepticon winced as his exposed circuits were nudged and probed, barely managing to bite back a snappy comment.

The Seeker leaned closer to her underling, assuming an intimidating posture. "Then why did you engage them?" she asked softly. There was no sympathy, no mercy, in her voice – only a quiet anger that Relay felt certain would boil over at the slightest provocation.

A sudden throb of pain caused by the medic's assessment prompted Relay to defend himself. "He attacked _us_ first!" he protested, trying and failing to wrench his arm free of the harness. The medic ignored his attempts at resistance, walking back toward the workbench without a word. "We knocked him half to scrap – but then the other two showed up out of the blue, so me and Kingpin-"

"And who gave you permission to summon that oversized oaf from the ship?" Jetstream snapped, whipping back her hand as though preparing to strike him. Relay flinched, ducking behind the harness and out of her reach. The Seeker bared her teeth, and slowly lowered her hand after a moment of watching him cower. "You have disrespected me… and in doing so, you have disrespected our cause and our Lord. I will _not_ tolerate such insubordination from you again – is that understood?"

Clenching his undamaged fist, Relay forced himself to look her in the optic. "Yeah," he replied. "Perfectly."

The medic returned to the examination table, the outer panels of one arm splitting open as he walked to reveal an array of delicate medical tools within. He carried a lone replacement finger in the hand of his other arm, composed of a slightly different alloy to that of the one Relay had lost – but didn't seem too concerned by the inconsistencies. He took hold of Relay's damaged hand, and unceremoniously rammed the replacement into the open socket.

Relay howled in pain, trying to push him off, but the medic proceeded with the 'repairs' as though such resistance from patients was nothing out of the ordinary. Satisfied by the agony in the abrupt cry that had echoed through the corridors of her ship, Jetstream turned on her heel and began to head for the sickbay's exit. "When you're done with repairs, I want you to call Downburst in from the perimeter for me," she stated over her angular shoulder. "I have a _special_ task for him. You can't disappoint me on that, can you?"

The hydraulic door slid shut behind Jetstream with a mechanical hiss, leaving Relay alone with the medic. The commander gone, the azure Decepticon punched his comrade hard in the shoulder to vent his frustration. It was only then that the medic felt the coast clear enough to let out a gruff, throaty laugh. "She really doesn't like you, does she?" he chuckled darkly, over the high-pitched whizzing of his equipment. Pausing for emphasis, he then indicated the deep scratches on his patient's faceplates. "Was she the one who gave you those?"

"Shut your fraggin' mouth, Gearbox," snapped Relay.

* * *

><p>"Autobot Outpost Omega One, this is unit Longscope of the Assault Ranger scout vessel – do you read?"<p>

The brittle crunching of static filled the sniper's internal comm. system as she pressed two fingers to the dial on the side of her helm, waiting patiently for a response. She stood at her full twelve feet outside a shabby, dated-looking warehouse; free arm folded beneath the motorcycle fairing that doubled up as her robot mode chestplates. Despite her tendency to speak and act with military speed and precision, patience was a prominent characteristic featured on her résumé. The ability to deal with failure, however, was not. Disheartened by the sound of static, Longscope closed the channel and dropped her hand to her side. After pausing to breathe a lengthy sigh of disappointment; she turned around, stooped, and stepped into the warehouse through the raised corrugated shutter.

Once, this roomy building had been used for the manufacturing of automobiles. The company which owned it had gone into administration and shut down, leaving the warehouse abandoned – and making it the perfect place for a temporary hideout. Tall aisles of empty wooden crates still cluttered a section of the area that the Autobots had taken to using as the main room, slightly reducing manoeuvrability, but at least there were no humans around.

No humans – except _those_ two, Longscope thought as she caught sight of her fellow Autobots. Uppercut was half-lying, half-sitting on the floor of the main room; torso twisted awkwardly so that he could reach the damaged section of his midriff. Eva and Vicky were sitting together atop his thigh, watching in morbid fascination as he administered self-repairs. Rebound was crouching near them, dithering in his untrained attempts to help speed up the process. The midnight blue scout only seemed to be hindering the pace, however, as Uppercut frequently had to bat his comrade's hands away to continue working. The four of them were discussing something amongst themselves, it seemed, but Longscope was quick to notice that it was the robots who were doing most of the talking.

"What's your status?" she asked. Both Autobots and humans alike seemed surprised to realise that she was suddenly present; she folded her arms and began a steady approach, coming to a halt near Uppercut's feet.

"Relax, alright? I'm working as fast as I can," the wounded Autobot replied. He sounded slightly stressed, though not because of pain. "I've replaced most of the damaged parts, but it'll still be a while before I'm battle-grade. Of course, it would go a lot faster if this _crankshaft_ didn't keep getting in my way all the time."

Longscope shot a firm glare at the surprised-looking scout. "Give him some room, will you?" she sighed. As Rebound sulked and got heavily to his feet, Longscope turned her gaze toward the humans. "You both should vacate the immediate area as well. Can't you see that his undivided attention is required by the task at hand – or do your optical sensors need recalibrating?"

Eva didn't even pretend to understand what the black and orange cycle-bot was talking about, but hopped down from atop Uppercut's leg nonetheless. As she turned to help her aunt do the same, she cast a quick glance up at the largest Autobot's faceplates. He looked uncomfortable, as though fighting the urge to tell his apparent superior to leave the humans alone.

"What were you all talking about, anyway?" Longscope continued, staring curiously through her visor at Rebound. The scout had taken a cross-legged seat on the bare floor, hands on his knees, but perked up slightly on hearing her question. The humans wandered over to him with expectancy in their eyes, as though silently requesting to hear the end of a story which they had been interrupted from hearing.

Rebound shrugged. "Oh, you know," he said, attempting to sound casual. "Cybertron, the 'Cons, the war… need-to-know stuff. We figured since they're gonna be staying with us for a while, it might be a good idea to fill them in on the details."

"Since when has that information been classified as _need to know_ for humans?" Longscope asked incredulously. A second thought then seemed to occur to her, and she shook her head. "And who said anything about them staying with us?"

Eva and Vicky exchanged apathetic glances, before the former crossed her arms and said; "You _do_ realise that we can hear you, right?"

Longscope ignored her. "The humans are only here until we can make contact with the other Autobots stationed on Earth," she affirmed, authority creeping back into her tone. "They will know how to deal with this situation. After that – they're out of our servos."

"Wait – hold on," Vicky cut, surprised. "There are _other_ Autobots on Earth, besides the three of you?"

The sniper gaped up at the ceiling in exasperation for a moment, before turning to glare at Rebound. "I thought you said you'd been explaining things to them!" she groaned.

"And _I_ thought you just said you didn't want us to," the scout shot back, irritated. "Make up your mind, fraggit!"

Uppercut took it upon himself to intervene before an argument could ensue. "Let's start from the beginning, then, shall we?" he suggested sharply, giving the humans a meaningful look. They both began to nod, prompting Longscope to let out her breath in a moderated hiss and then take a seat on the floor. "Alright. Vicky, Eva – why don't you tell us what you already know, and we'll work from there."

"Well," Vicky began, able to feel heat rising about her cheeks. "You all come from a distant planet called… Cybertron, was it? Your people used to be one race, but you've split into two factions because a war broke out."

She cut herself off abruptly, unable to believe what she was saying. It all sounded so ludicrous when coming from her own mouth. "You're the Autobots – the good guys," Eva picked up, after her aunt had fallen into awkward silence. Contrary to how Vicky felt, the whole scenario inspired awe in the teenager's heart. "You've been fighting the Decepticons, who aren't so good, for a really long time. Is that right?"

"Right," Rebound nodded, looking quite proud of the tiny humans for being able to retain everything he'd said.

"Several megacycles ago," Longscope began, drawing the others' attentions expertly. "While we were passing through this galaxy, we picked up a transmission from our leader – Optimus Prime. We had traced it to this planet and were following the signal, when the Decepticons opened fire on us in the asteroid belt that separates the planets known to you as Mars and Jupiter. Our ship, the Assault Ranger, sustained heavy damage… and we were forced to make an emergency landing in the lake close to where we found you."

Eva took a step forward, concerned. "There's just one thing that I don't understand so far," she said, looking directly at Uppercut. She chose to focus her attention on him over the other two, because she felt – for some reason – that he was the most trustworthy. Perhaps it was because he was the first of the Autobots she had seen, or maybe it was due to the fact that he had blown his cover to save both her and Vicky's lives. Whatever the reason, she felt as though he was the one most likely to give an honest answer. "_Why_ did a war break out on your planet? If your people once existed together in peace, why do you now live divided?"

"Yes – and why is this Optimus Prime person on Earth in the first place?" Vicky added, placing both hands on her hips. She looked a stage more sceptical than her niece – suspicious, apprehensive. "Surely there are other, more _empty_ planets you could have chosen to adopt as your new home."

Uppercut seemed to sigh, though Eva heard no sound as his shoulders sank. "Biologically, we Cybertronians are completely different to any life form that your kind has ever encountered," he began, drawing up one leg to rest an arm in its sharp knee. "We aren't 'born' like you are – we're made. Our kind is – was – given life by the AllSpark… an object of immense power. In ancient times, we began to fight over control of the AllSpark – and our people became divided."

"Optimus Prime was the one who jettisoned the AllSpark into space, hoping that it would bring an end to the war," Rebound elaborated. His expression was downcast – a rarity that didn't suit him. "But even though we were forced to leave Cybertron, the war just keeps going."

"Not too long ago, an energy signal was detected in the vicinity of Earth," explained the teal and white Autobot. The humans' eyes flicked back toward him, as spectators would watch the ball in a tennis match. "It was very similar to the energy emitted by the AllSpark. Optimus Prime and his team came to Earth as a pre-emptive measure against Megatron's return – just in case he was able to pick up the signal, too."

"Megatron?" Eva and Vicky repeated in unintentional chorus.

Rebound shuddered, clenching his fists. "The no-good leader of the 'Cons," he replied darkly, as though uttering a curse. He shook his head, clearing all inklings of loathing from his voice. "Prime sent a message out into space – which we received – asking for help."

The humans exchanged a brief, puzzled glance. "What kind of help?" asked Vicky.

"Protecting humans," Longscope interjected, as though she thought the notion ridiculous. She then shrugged her wheel-baring shoulders, no ill intent in her gaze as she studied the two young women standing before her. "I have been attempting to establish contact with Team Prime ever since our arrival, but have so far been unsuccessful. This planet's powerful magnetic field and interference from native machines obstruct our comlinks."

A thoughtful silence fell in the main room of the warehouse all of a sudden, accented only by the gentle _clink_ of metal on metal as Uppercut continued to administer self-repairs. "What about telephone lines?" Eva suggested, gesturing a hand aimlessly. Vicky stared at her, impressed by the speed of her niece's brain. The Autobots, however, didn't seem quite able to understand until she elaborated. "Humans have a network of communication towers spread across most parts of the world. They transmit and receive signals that let people talk to each other remotely – no matter where they are. Maybe you could tap into that system somehow to boost your…_comlink_ signal?"

"It's a possibility," Uppercut muttered, thinking. He then nodded once, and looked to the sniper. "But our best bet's salvaging our ship's Tachyon transmitter – that is, if the impact and prolonged exposure to water haven't destroyed it. We haven't exactly been having the best of luck, lately."

Longscope considered his words for a moment, subconsciously fiddling with the dial of her audio receptor. After a few moments of listening to blank static, she pressed both hands to her knees and stood up. Her audience of four shared identical expressions of surprise and uncertainty, but she chose to fix her stern optics on Uppercut alone.

"Keep an eye on the humans," she ordered. In response to his questioning gaze, she then flicked her own unyielding one toward Rebound. "On your feet. We're moving out."

As the sniper turned promptly on her heel and made to head out of the warehouse, Rebound scrambled upright in pursuit – only slowing to carefully step over their tiny guests as he moved. "Can I ask where we're going?" he inquired, hurrying after her.

"Lake Rosemary," was Longscope's swift response. "We're going to retrieve that transmitter."

* * *

><p>In her private quarters aboard the Bandit; Jetstream allowed herself to sink into the depths of a circular chamber that was set into the floor, sighing with optics shuttered as the hot oil within washed over her frame. Its effect was instantaneous; the soft heat caressed her sensory receptors, steam rising in iridescent swirls around her. A rare calmness settled on her spark – a moment of tranquillity amidst the chaos of command. Moments like this were the one time when she didn't have to deal with the defiance and idiocy of her underlings; their sheer, blind stupidity.<p>

How dare Relay undermine her authority before… how dare he fail her? If it weren't for his condition and the earlier circumstances, she would have ripped out his spark for such insubordination. She couldn't count the number of times he had placed his own desires, his own personal gain, before that of their Lord. Such treason was unacceptable; she swore to see to it that discipline would be enforced the next time he dared to cross her.

A sudden knock at the door of her chambers startled Jetstream from her reverie. Anger instantly swelled inside her chest, flooding her rarely calm circuits like wildfire. She leaped upright and whirled around, droplets of oil showering from her chassis as she faced the closed entrance.

"Who dares disturb me?" she snarled.

The hydraulic door slid open and a towering, desert-coloured Decepticon stepped inside. His bronze complexion seemed oddly out of place aboard the Bandit, though the expression of utmost seriousness on his faceplates most certainly did not. Angular yet gently curved; his body was adorned with weaponry, four rigid helicopter blades trailing from his shoulders like swords. His frame was barely half the width of Kingpin's, but unquestionably taller – accompanied by a quiet, sinister presence.

"Ah – it's you," Jetstream observed, taken by pleasant surprise. She sank back into the oil, her voice positively oozing sinister delight. "Welcome back, Downburst."

The Decepticon seemed taken aback – not by her uncharacteristically friendly tone, but by her present… _dis-armoured_ condition. He raised a hand to shield his optics, unsure of where to look.

Jetstream almost laughed. "Oh, come now," she said, moving to the front of the bath and resting her arms on the panelled floor. Downburst slowly lowered his hand, beginning a deliberate approach as she extended one of her own. "I've missed you."

He sank onto one armoured knee before her, taking hold of her delicate hand with a gentleness that did not correspond to his bulk, and raised it to his faceplates. Jetstream allowed him to kiss her sharp knuckles, as a slave would to royalty, nothing but satisfaction in her gaze.

"It is an honour to answer your summons, my lady," Downburst replied. His voice was deep, gallant; reminiscent of an age long gone from the universe. Condensation began to bead on the glass of his chestplates as he leaned over the bathing chamber, gathering in the many scar-like fissures in his metal. "How may I be of service?"

Jetstream smiled forebodingly, withdrawing her hand from his grip. "I want you to fetch something for me," she replied, sinking back into the oil. "Something… _special_."


	7. Treasure Hunt

"Hey… 'Scope? Can I ask you something?"

"You mean another question besides the one you just raised in asking that?"

"…Why d'you have it in for humans?"

A black and orange Daytona and a midnight blue Nissan GTR sped alongside one another down the winding forest road that encircled Lake Rosemary, both vehicles void of passengers and drivers alike. The motorcycle weaved slightly as though irritably contemplating the Nissan's question, before speeding up to take point on the uneven terrain.

"I don't _have it in_ for anyone," Longscope replied. Her tone was curt, insulted. She followed the natural path that led innocently through the deciduous foliage, the contained growls of their engines startling rooks and woodpigeons as they passed. "I follow objectives – my personal judgement has nothing to do with my actions. I would just rather humankind not become involved in Cybertron's troubles."

Rebound put on a momentary burst of speed, creeping to within a metre of her rear wheel. "How come?" he asked. "They can help."

Longscope sighed, but didn't step on the gas to re-establish the safe distance between them. "No, they can't," she said heavily, as though she'd had this conversation a dozen times before. "Have you ever _examined_ one properly? They are pitifully small, lack protective shells and integrated weaponry, are easily damaged and are extremely difficult to repair. Yes, they possess limited intelligence – but not enough to aid us in the war against the Decepticons. Their presence would only hinder us in battle; they aren't assets – they're liabilities. It would be better for everyone if they remained unaware of our existence."

If he were in robot mode, Rebound would have rolled his optics. Instead, he settled for lowering his speed and mimicking the sniper's sigh. "You're _so_ square."

The Autobot convoy of two arrived in a now-familiar clearing and eased smoothly to a halt. Shedding their terrestrial disguises, they passed a blackened patch of earthen ground – the spot where Vicky's car had fallen victim to the Decepticons' first attack. Though Longscope didn't give it a second glance, Rebound studied the charring with a swell of embarrassment. He'd taken care of the burning wreck himself; a single cycle was all he had needed to drag the molten scrapheap into the lake and watch it sink to the bottom, but the car's owner had not been best pleased with his methods. She'd yelled something about CDs and other valuables in the glove box. It hadn't made much sense to him, but her disappointed shouts had invoked a sense of guilt in his systems all the same.

The sniper and her scout stepped down the embankment that led to the rim of the lake, their scanners on high alert as they conducted a brief visual search of the area. No humans, no Deceptions – perfect, thought Longscope. She approached the water's edge without fear, though the same could not be said of her comrade: one dunking this solarcycle was more than enough for him, thank you very much.

"Okay," Longscope began, sliding open a panel on her forearm to reveal a tiny monitor embedded in a complex knot of circuits. A quick glance at its screen affirmed that her vital readings were stable at normal levels, though she knew that wouldn't remain the case for very long. "Once we're submerged, we'll have about four cycles before the water starts getting into our systems. Barring any complications, we should be able to retrieve the transmitter in three."

Without another word, she replaced the panel and promptly dived into the lake. Rebound raised an arm to shield himself from a spray of cold airborne droplets, staring after her in mild irritation. "Maybe 'square' wasn't the right word," he muttered to himself, starting forward in unenthusiastic pursuit of his partner. He suppressed a shudder as the water lapped over his feet, apathetic. "'Stuffy' suits you so much better."

Once the flooded ground began to slope sharply away underfoot, Rebound flung himself forward – not pausing to consider the many ways in which this innocent little search-and-retrieve mission could go wrong. Being underwater certainly wasn't one of his favourite sensations; the feeling of it pushing against his chassis from all sides unnerved him to no end. The shafts of dimming sunlight provided little comfort, as did the eerie distortion of sound. Longscope hadn't waited for him to join her beneath the surface: she was already several metres below and diving fast, rhythmic kicks trailing streams of bubbles in her wake. He propelled himself down after her, servos slowed by the water's resistance, following her example of switching on the headlights in his chest.

Their small, sunken ship was a very sorry sight indeed. The Assault Ranger had acquired more damage than Rebound remembered; half-buried in mud and watery grime, the scorched hull glinted strangely in the spotlights of their lamps and the filtered glow of the distant sun. The gaping hole on the starboard side where the wing used to be looked so much like a cavernous mouth that it was almost disturbing – but Longscope didn't seem intimidated by the resemblance. Instead; she span herself around to check that Rebound had caught up with her, her movements somehow more graceful than they had ever been on dry land, and swam through the sinister opening into the ship.

He followed her inside, pace slightly hindered by several thick cables that trailed like dead snakes across the opening. Even though he knew they were up against the clock, Rebound couldn't help but pause to study the ruins of their craft. Glimmering specks of silt and debris swayed before his optics as he felt his spark sink: the ravaged, shredded chamber in which he found himself had once been a cockpit – the cockpit he had manned on countless missions with the hope of actually making a difference in this stupid war – but now it was just a waterlogged scrapheap. Pieces of equipment – oscillators, handheld canisters, keypads, broken components from navigation systems – drifted all around like mechanical ghosts, some still tenuously attached to the rounded walls of the ship by fraying wires. A single glance told him that even if they somehow managed to salvage all of the parts and drag it back out onto the shore, the Assault Ranger would never fly again.

A sudden tap on the shoulder brought Rebound back to reality, preventing him from dwelling on the prospect of being permanently stranded on Earth. As she pushed herself through the water toward the front of the cockpit, Longscope shot him an insistent look. Right, he remembered; clock's ticking. He passed her with slight difficulty, using instruments on the ship's walls as handholds to keep himself on course. Swimming had never exactly been a talent of his. Shards of glass from the once bubble-shaped cockpit window glanced off his frame as he moved, but he kept his stinging optics on the broken control panel that ran like a dashboard around the entire chamber.

The front of the cockpit was not the worst hit area of the ship, but it had suffered heavy damage all the same. Great chunks of the main control terminal were missing – including the stretch of panelling where the Tachyon transmitter was once attached. Rebound slammed his hand against the curved wall in frustration. Should have known, he thought. Still, he noticed that there was something strange about it; the shape of all the other voids seemed to follow the natural structure of the ship's design, as though those pieces of equipment had come loose on their own – but the gap where the transmitter should have been looked scratched and forced, as though it had been torn free. Longscope, having already anticipated that their task wouldn't be so straightforward, was searching the adrift debris for their quarry. Her hunt yielded no reward, however, and she cast Rebound a confused gaze. His reply was an equally stumped shake of the head, and nothing more. The transmitter was gone – and their time was almost up.

The Autobots slipped back out through the breach in the hull, and began their ascent toward the surface. Rebound didn't waste any time in his hurry to return to dry land – but Longscope hesitated almost as soon as she exited the ship. The silt nearby was shifting, disturbed from stillness by something other than herself and her partner. At her subconscious command, the outer components of her left forearm split open; her hand withdrew and became part of the trusted sniper rifle that formed from the internal components within.

The dirt beneath her feet suddenly erupted and a thick servo burst forth from the ground, sharp digits of its hand clamping tightly around her ankle. Longscope let out a surprised shriek that was almost lost amongst the water – but Rebound caught her cry across his comlink. He span inexpertly around in time to see a towering, heavily-armed, off-brown Decepticon emerge from the filth and seize his partner by the throat; watching as their assailant slammed her hard against the side of the ship.

Rebound had reconfigured his arm into its weapon mode and taken aim within the space of a single nanoklik – but the rush of energon as he opened fire on their attacker was far from what he had expected. The energy from his shot dispersed within the range of a few feet, scattered by the density of the water. Rebound threw himself downward in a dive instead, swearing mentally that he would _never_ again agree to accept an underwater mission as he drew back his free arm and swung at the Decepticon.

Their attacker released his hold on Longscope the instant that Rebound's fist made contact with his faceplates, but the sniper seized her comrade's arm before he could proceed to beat the living daylights out of the Decepticon. Downburst regained his balance with a growl, but both Autobots had already turned tail and were beating a swift retreat for dry land. He smirked as he watched their pitiful attempt to escape. Energy weapons were useless underwater – but the rocket launcher on his right shoulder was not. The bluish Autobot seemed to be having some difficulty swimming, he noticed. He took aim and fired one round – all that he deemed was necessary – before propelling himself upward from the dirt in pursuit. Rebound didn't see the shot, but Longscope did: she watched it streak toward them with wide optics, and barely managed to shove her comrade out of the way before the missile caught her squarely in the chestplates.

Rebound span away from the force of the sniper's push, servos freezing up in shock as he saw her beginning to sink back toward the bottom of the lake. The Decepticon surged past him – heading for the surface as though the thought of battle no longer interested him – knocking him back to his senses. He snagged Longscope by the wrist; she was unresponsive, dead weight dragging him down. Taking hold of her under the arms; Rebound kicked with all his might, reaching for the distant sun, clutching his partner like some kind of metal ragdoll.

They broke the surface with an almighty crash – but Rebound didn't stop to search for the Decepticon. He swam for shore with the sniper still tightly in his grasp, and hauled her out of the water as he scrambled frantically onto dry land. His grip slipped as soon as she was clear of the lake and he fell flat onto his back, panting and heaving without pause.

A sudden, nearby footfall made him flinch; optics snapping open, he found himself staring into the barrel of Downburst's wrist-mounted cannon. Rebound gulped, all youthful cockiness gone from his faceplates. The bronze, deadly-looking Decepticon gazed down at him for a while – wearing an expression of something close to composed satisfaction. Then, without warning, he retracted his weapon and took a calm step backward.

Rebound sat up, watching in stupefied amazement at the Decepticon began to walk away without as much as a backward glance. "Aren't you gonna scrap us?" he blurted out, trembling as adrenaline continued to pound through his circuits.

Downburst slowed his walk to a steady halt, and then rotated on the spot to face him. "Do you wish for that to become the case?" he asked, bemusedly raising an optic ridge. Rebound remained silent, prompting the Decepticon to fold his arms. "My objective does not concern you – either of you – and unlike most of my comrades, I do not see how offlining two helpless Autobots can count as sport. But perhaps our paths will cross again at some point in the future… when I have different orders."

The harsh sound of grinding metal split the silence of the forest as Downburst shifted into his alternate form; tan-coloured panels rearranged and slammed together, the four blades on his back snapping in place around a central rigid column. Rebound shielded his optics from the blast of twigs and earth kicked up by the rotors of the HAL Light Combat Helicopter that suddenly stood beside the lake, watching as it rose steadily from the ground and hovered for a moment. The helicopter then climbed powerfully upward, and began to strafe away over the treetops and out of sight.

It was only when the sound of Downburst's rotors had faded that Rebound forced life back into his servos. He scrambled across the dirt to Longscope's side, doubling fearfully over her as he placed both hands on her shoulders. Her optics remained stubbornly shuttered beneath the visor even as he shook her frame; she was completely nonresponsive. There was slight charring and denting on her chestplates: the water had absorbed some of the rocket's impact, but clearly damage had still been dealt to her internal systems.

"Oh, frag…" he muttered to himself, trying fervently to wake her. As a last resort, he began to tap incessantly on the side of her face. "Come on, come _on_ – rise and shine already!"

Longscope suddenly grabbed hold of Rebound's wrist, her grip vicelike and painful from irritation. He winced, relieved to watch as she cracked open her optics nonetheless. One of them flickered for a second, but its cyan glow soon levelled out. "Where's the 'Con?" she asked thickly.

Rebound grinned. "I scared him off," he said. He then dropped his gaze to the side, awkward. "Thanks for blocking that shot, by the way."

Longscope released her comrade's arm and struggled into a sitting position, lightly cradling the side of her helm as she moved. After a moment, she gave a slow shake of the head and cast her gaze out over the lake. "And… the transmitter?"

The scout didn't reply at once. Instead; he followed her line of sight, thinking. "It looked like it was ripped out," he voiced, recalling the twisted curls of metal on the control panel. He then met Longscope's stare, his own darkening meditatively. "Ask me, I'd say the 'Con took it. He said something about his 'objective' not being us… and what else would he come here for?"

"There was something _much_ more valuable installed in our ship than a simple transmitter, Rebound," Longscope muttered, pushing unsteadily to her feet. The scout scrambled to his own, reaching to support her – but she shrugged out of his grip. "Let's head back to camp to check on Uppercut… and _pray_ that Decepticon didn't get his claws on the cell."

* * *

><p>Dropping slowly onto one knee in the shadows of Jetstream's chambers, Downburst presented the Autobots' Tachyon transmitter to his master. The Seeker crossed the room toward him leisurely, deliberately, savouring the selflessness – the absolute loyalty – in his posture. Optics downcast, he watched as her slender feet came to a smooth halt on the panelled floor before him – surprised as he felt one of her willowy hands place itself on his broad shoulder.<p>

"I knew you wouldn't fail me," she smiled, optics slightly narrowed as she trailed her hand upward along his neck. She rested it on the side of his face, inclining his head so that he might meet her gaze. Even as she teased him, her other hand crept forth to take hold of the transmitter – and she relieved him of its weight as a skilled thief would pick the pocket of a passerby. Jetstream then turned away from her bulky subordinate – allowing her sharp fingers to linger momentarily on his faceplates – and studied her prize. "This will allow me to keep a closer watch over my more disobedient underlings… _and_ the Autobots, as well."

Downburst watched in comfortable silence as the Seeker raised the transmitter above her head, inspecting it. "My lady," he began, continuing to kneel without complaint. As he spoke, his fingers found the latch of the cockpit on his chesplates. "Whilst I was aboard the Autobot ship, I stumbled upon something else which I believed might hold a certain importance to you."

Intrigued, Jetstream turned on her heel to face him. What could be more valuable than the transmitter? "Show me," she said.

The bronze-coloured Decepticon removed something small from the compartment in his chest. It resembled a glass cylinder with mechanical components about the base and rim, no larger in size than his palm; containing a gentle, pulsing energy that cast Jetstream's quarters in a pale white glow. Her optics seemed to gleam in its presence; her angular faceplates betrayed fascinated surprise – delight, almost – as she approached her loyal servant. The cylinder seemed more substantial in her much smaller hands; she moved it to within an inch of her faceplates, and let out a soft breath of laughter.

"What have we _here_," she smiled, humour swiftly darkening into a devious smirk. "Who would have guessed that such a tiny scouting vessel was carrying a transwarp cell? Excellent work, Downburst – no doubt this will prove _most_ invaluable in the future."


	8. Pursuit

Resting her hands atop the leather-coated steering wheel of a seemingly ordinary teal and white Sedan, Eva Larsson gazed vacantly out of the broad windshield as several much more modern cars passed by on the opposite side of the road. Even with her averted attention, however, the vehicle seemed to have no problem driving on its own; her hands were a guide rather than a direct influence on its path through the quiet streets of Boulstridge. They headed between a set of green lights, Eva's feet stationed motionlessly several inches away from the pedals.

"Is everything alright?" asked a voice. Taken aback, Eva dropped her gaze to the Autobot symbol emblazoned onto the wheel. Its sincere face stared seriously back up at her, throbbing with faint light as the car spoke again. "Your pulse is slightly elevated, as is your temperature. Are you feeling okay?"

"How can you tell all of that?" Eva asked, flushing from surprise. It swiftly occurred to her that Uppercut could feel the heat of her hands through the wheel, and she withdrew them at once. It was a very strange notion – one that made her extremely self-conscious all of a sudden. This was _awkward_.

"I am a trained medic, you know," the disguised robot replied, his voice light with both pride and concern. He didn't seem to be aware of the reason behind her discomfort. "It's part of my job to sense abnormalities in others' systems and treat them accordingly."

Eva swallowed, casting her embarrassed gaze out of the window. "I'm alright," she affirmed with a shrug. "It's just… really strange to think that I'm sitting _inside_ of a giant talking robot from outer space. I mean; I know that you look like a car, and – for the most part – you sound like a car too. Heck, you even _smell_ like a car – but… I know that you're _not_ a car. Does that make sense?"

Uppercut gave a small laugh in response. "I see," he said, sounding amused. "Well… I can always keep quiet and let you do the driving, if it makes you feel better?"

"Something tells me that there's less chance of us having an accident when you're the one behind the wheel – so to speak," she grinned.

There was silence between the two of them for a moment, punctuated only by the infrequent _clunk_ of the gear lever. "And something tells _me_ that this isn't the only thing on your mind," Uppercut prompted in subdued tones.

Eva returned her stare to the dash, smile fading. "Do you promise to keep this conversation between just the two of us?" she asked.

"I promise."

"It's… Longscope," she mumbled, folding her arms and sinking a little in the driver's seat. She hesitated for a few seconds, but the Autobot didn't interrupt her. "I know that she means well – that all of her words about how humans shouldn't get involved with Cybertron are just there to keep me and Vicky safe – but, I dunno. It feels as though she just doesn't _want_ to get along with us."

She heard him sigh, as though buying time whilst contemplating something. It was several moments before he came to a silent conclusion, but even then he didn't speak right away. "Let me tell you a little story, Eva," he began, his voice suddenly heavy and heartfelt. "Back on Cybertron, before the AllSpark was cast out into space, Longscope was the commander of an elite group of snipers. She led a mission into Kaon, the Decepticon capital city where a lot of Autobots were held captive. Their objective was to free the prisoners, but their position became compromised and the entire squad was captured and thrown into a cell. Longscope was singled out because of her size and status as the commander: they dragged her off to one side – Primus knows what else they did to her – and forced her to kneel as they lined up the rest of the hostages.

"Longscope was made to watch as every single member of her team, as well as the Autobots already being held in that section of Kaon, was shot and killed by the Decepticons," Uppercut continued. Eva closed her eyes, trying not to imagine the horrific scene. "Some say that she couldn't handle the strain of what she was seeing and went into stasis until it was over; others say she lost it completely and slaughtered every last 'Con there. Since she was the lone survivor discovered after their backup team stormed the prison, only Longscope knows what really happened for sure – but I'm willing to bet my rear axel that she'll never tell another soul so long as she lives. Frankly, I'm amazed she could bring herself to tell me everything that happened up until that point."

"W-what about Rebound?" Eva heard herself ask, throat tight enough with dread to make her stutter. "Does he know?"

"She never told him," Uppercut replied. "She said he's too young to understand. Load of scrap if you ask me; that kid's smarter than he lets on and she knows it. I think she just doesn't want him to suffer the horrors of war like we have – and you humans, too."

Eva couldn't bring herself to say anything, so she chose instead to watch the familiar streets roll by beyond the windows. They were heading for home – the house that had been all but abandoned ever since the Assault Ranger spacecraft crashed down not three miles away.

"Trust me on this, Eva," the Sedan said all of a sudden, pulling the human from her brief reverie. "Beneath that cold, black and orange metal shell is a golden spark. She'd do anything to stop the 'Cons from harming innocent life – even risking her own safety if it meant that a total stranger could walk away without a scratch. She just… has an awkward way of showing it."

A _really_ awkward way of showing it, Eva mentally agreed. Rather than admit the thought out loud, she allowed a tiny smile to crease her lips. Uppercut seemed to read her mind, and gave an open chuckle as he mounted the curb outside of their destination. His suspension absorbed the bump much better than Vicky's old car ever had; making Eva wonder exactly how many perks there were to having an Autobot for a chauffeur rather than a regular car.

Eva slid carefully out of her seatbelt and reached to unlock the door, slightly unnerved to find that it was already ajar. "I won't be a minute," she assured him, stepping out onto the pavement. Uppercut watched her fish a key from her back pocket as she jogged up the driveway, but was distracted as a sudden voice sighed across his comlink.

"_Uppercut, where are you?"_

"Hey, 'Scope," he said, injecting enthusiasm into his reply. She did not sound impressed. "Take it easy – I'm just outside Eva and Vicky's base. We'll be back soon."

"_And what exactly are you doing there – with her?"_

"She said she has some things to take care of. We can't be good guardians if we don't look after our new human friends, can we?"

"_We __aren't__ their – oh, whatever. Just… hurry up and get your aft back here, okay? I don't trust Rebound to keep an eye on the other one for much longer."_

* * *

><p>If nothing else, Gearbox was known to his fellow Decepticons as a true 'techno-head'. He had only chosen to become the Bandit's medical officer because the position allowed him to get his servos on high-tech gizmos and gadgets that could scarcely be imagined by the average soldier – and the newly-acquired Tachyon transmitter was one of them. It had taken him several megacycles of hard work to restore the device to operational status, but his services had immediately been rewarded. No sooner than the transmitter was successfully installed into the Bandit's surveillance mainframe did it begin to sound; picking up the distorted audio of an Autobot communication. The signal was heavily garbled by interference on the Earth's surface; Gearbox shifted quickly through various frequencies, trying to pin down the clearest wavelength.<p>

Standing watchfully behind him, Jetstream raised an optic ridge as the sound of corrupted static met her audio processors. "Have you discovered something?" she asked smoothly, stepping forward.

"Could just be a connection error," Gearbox shrugged, gesturing a hand without looking at his commander. She began to approach him, crimson optics following the movements of his fingers in mild interest. The static became a loud, steady hiss – before abruptly cutting into the sound of an unfamiliar male voice.

"_-guardians if we don't look after our new human friends, can we?"_

A swift smirk crossed Jetstream's faceplates and she placed a hand on the control panel, leaning closer to the transmitter. "Trace the signal," she demanded, her stare ablaze with anticipation.

Her order was unnecessary; Gearbox was already one step ahead and scanning for source co-ordinates. A troubled frown soon creased his expression, however, and he inclined his head to glance at the closest monitor. It displayed a digital map of the Earth's surface, complete with a set of red crosshairs that roved all corners of the diagram even as he watched. They were moving without pause – a tiny scrolling column of scarlet Cybertronian text filtering through their centre.

"The origin code is encrypted," he stated; able to feel Jetstream's suddenly-frustrated glare jabbing into the back of his helm, as the voice of a female Autobot began to reply to her comrade. "The caller knows their stuff, I'll give 'em that. Must be an ex-comm. officer or something."

"Meaning?" the commander inquired, as the medic strode across to a nearby control panel and began drumming precisely on its touchpad.

"I can't trace the 'Bot who initiated the call," Gearbox explained patiently, as the commands entered by his fingers brought up several dialogue boxes above the map. "But maybe I can pin the receiver's location."

Without warning; the new windows obscuring the map disappeared in unison, and the now-green crosshairs made a beeline for a point of land near the top half of the screen. A set of complex co-ordinates popped into existence beside them, blinking emerald.

"Hello, Autobot," smirked Gearbox.

Jetstream nodded her angular head in satisfaction, before crossing to stand before the medic. "Excellent work," she began. A sneer had begun to play about her lips, but her optics were narrowed shrewdly; calculating. "And now I have another task for you… that is, if you aren't still preoccupied with piecing that _fool_ back together."

The medic gave a slight start, surprised. "Of course not, commander," he hastened. It was exceptionally rare for her to even acknowledge his existence, let alone actually assign him a mission. He couldn't afford to turn down such an unusual opportunity to please her. Besides; the only thing still hurting Relay was his pride – and even the most talented of medics couldn't fix that. "Just say the word, and I'll-"

With a slight flourish, Jetstream turned away from him to face the map of the Earth. He fell to silence at once, wary. "Bridge yourself to these co-ordinates," she said coolly, gazing up at the blinking row of numbers on the screen. "It would seem that the Autobots have decided to befriend a number of humans during their stay. Fetch one for me… perhaps we can use it to our advantage."

Placing a hand over his spark chamber, Gearbox stooped in a momentary bow before turning on his heel and making to head out into the corridor. Only the quiet shifting of metal heels on the panelled floor made him pause as the hydraulic doorway slid open.

"Oh – and Gearbox… take Kingpin with you. You may need him to distract the Autobot while you complete your objective."

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry for ignoring you," Eva cooed gently, pressing her lips against Benedict's fluffy forehead. The tiny Birman kitten positively vibrated with the force of his own purring as he nestled in her arms, brushing his scent into her skin and clothes. "I have to go again soon, but I've filled up your food and water bowls and changed the litter in your tray. You remember what the tray's for, don't you?"<p>

Benedict mewed innocently. Interpreting the sound as a 'yes', Eva placed the tiny cat down on the floor and rose to her feet. She stepped slowly over him and headed out into the hall, fully aware – despite the kitten's adorably questioning gaze – that it probably wasn't the best idea to keep a giant alien robot waiting outside. A small bundle of clothes was resting on top of the banister; she gathered it up in one hand as the other reached automatically for the door, careful to wait until Benedict had wandered dejectedly into the living room before opening the way to the outside world.

Her gaze fell immediately upon the teal and white Sedan that was Uppercut after exiting the house, but something else caught her eye as she made sure to lock the front door behind her: caught her eye, and made her heart sink. It was a tall male human, looking around nineteen or twenty years old, gliding past the front of the driveway on a skateboard. The part that invoked a vague sense of depression was the fact that she recognised him.

"Hey – Eva!" Quinn grinned in surprise, hopping down from his ride and onto the pavement as soon as he spotted her. She pasted a smile onto her face as she headed down the empty drive, almost disturbed by how happy he looked to see her. "I knew I recognised that car! How's it going – you coping with freedom alright?"

"I'm a little busy, Quinn," she replied as cordially as was possible, feeling slightly guilty as she watched his face fall.

"Aw, you're always busy," he said, kicking up and catching his skateboard as the typical 'Quinn' cheeriness began to fade from his expression. She'd seen him pull a few tricks outside of college once or twice, before the headmaster had deemed such modes of transportation too unsafe with a main road right outside campus, but had never really thought of him as a skater. He seemed, to Eva at least, more like a guy who spent most of his free time playing videogames or hanging out with the other 'populars'.

She gave a shrug, tossing the bundle of her and Vicky's clothes into the Sedan through the open window – which she knew herself to have not rolled down. "I am," she lied, the statement sounding much less certain than she had planned in the face of his sudden disappointment. Even though her hands were still resting on the Sedan's door, she found herself unable to open it all of a sudden – but not because Uppercut had locked it in place.

Quinn stared up and down the street without paying much attention to their surroundings, as though buying time while frantically inventing something else to say. "Hey, you know…" he began, not quite able to meet her eye. "There's a new movie coming out in the cinemas. It's about aliens and stuff – I know you're into that kind of thing, so I thought I'd let you know."

"Oh," Eva replied lamely. "Um… thank you, I guess."

"Yeah – and… I was kinda wondering if, you know…" he continued, a faint colour beginning to rise in the tops of his ears. "I mean; if you need someone to go see it with – or anything for that matter – I'm free. Of course, I'd completely understand if you didn't want to – but I just thought I'd ask in case you said 'yes' because then that would be… awesome…?"

Eva forced a smile as he trailed into awkward silence – but was spared the trouble of responding to his invitation by the sound of powerful engine. At first, she thought Uppercut was once again coming to her rescue – but then realised that the sound was coming from behind her. She turned, just in time to watch a familiar Ford F150 Raptor roll around the corner nearby. Her body froze up at the sight of it. Part of her – a rather large and terrified part of her – expected the pickup burst out of its shell and attack, but it didn't. It mounted the curb and began to idle along the pavement, inching closer menacingly. Trying to reign in her nerves, Eva forced herself to face back toward her classmate and meet his expectant eyes.

"Get in the car."

Quinn blinked. "What?" he asked, furrowing his brow. _That_ wasn't the answer he'd been expecting.

"You have to get in the car, _right now_," she urged, stealing another glance at the approaching pickup.

"Eva, what are you-"

"Jason!" she snapped, losing all patience in the blink of an eye. He fell silent, taken aback by the urgency in her voice. She then opted for a pleading expression as she wrenched open the Sedan's driver-side door and gestured inside, hoping that desperation would get through to him faster than anger would. "Do you trust me?"

He studied her for a moment, confused. "Yeah, of course I-"

"Then _get in the damn car_!"

Without another word; Quinn ducked into the Sedan and rolled across to the passenger seat, swiftly tossing his skateboard into the back as he moved. Eva dived in after him, barely making it inside before the door slammed itself shut behind her and the accelerator pedal dropped to the floor. With a screech of tyres the Sedan launched forward onto the road, bouncing down from the curb as the Raptor similarly lurched into motion behind them.

"What's going on?" Quinn demanded, looking uneasy as he noticed the pickup in the rear-view mirror. With a start, he realised that there was no one behind its wheel – but the biggest shock came when he noticed that the Sedan's own was moving without Eva's help. He watched it rotate freely for a moment, before dragging his eyes across to meet those of his fellow human. "E-Eva…?"

The Sedan suddenly pitched forward, throwing both humans against the dash. Eva saw the Raptor's reflection fall away in the mirror, her eyes widening as it put on a second burst of speed to ram them again. The wheel jerked to the side at the last possible moment and the car veered into an alleyway, out of the pickup's path, and barrelled down the narrow passage before bursting out onto a new road, knocking airborne a cluster of wheelie-bins in the process. The Sedan's brakes slammed down hard as they found themselves heading straight for an oncoming bus – there was an almighty crash as the Raptor ploughed into the back corner of the Sedan, forcing it into an uncontrollable spin across the tarmac, followed by a second ear-splitting crunch of metal as both vehicles smashed into the side of the bus.

Eva was the first to recover. She peeled herself off of the steering wheel and gawped frantically around at the car's leather interior, eyes wide with shock and panic. "Are you okay?" she gasped. Quinn opened his mouth to answer, massaging the side of his head where he'd hit the dashboard, but faltered when he realised that she wasn't talking to him.

_She was talking to the car_.

The smell of burning rubber abruptly filled the humans' lungs as the Sedan once again forced itself into motion: they left the Raptor in the dust, speeding away down the road. After what felt like an age of weaving between oncoming traffic, the car veered suddenly off to the side, ploughing through the barred gates of an ancient-looking factory. Snaking between buildings, the Sedan only screeched to a halt after skidding in an impressive turn around the base of a tall cooling tower.

The car's doors sprang open and the seats tipped up without warning, spilling both humans out onto the hard tarmac as the roar of the Raptor's engine swelled in rapid approach. Eva scrambled backwards, knowing what was about to happen, and forced Quinn to do the same by seizing the back of his lime-coloured hoodie.

Kingpin was the one who transformed first. He exploded from his disguise without the slightest hesitation – leaping into the air with arms outstretched and mouth open wide in a fierce battle cry. Uppercut barely managed to find his feet before the Decepticon was on him: the impact knocked both Cybertronians flying over the humans' heads – Quinn grabbed Eva's shoulders and forced her down out of harm's way, terrified as the tangle of black and white metal momentarily blocked out the sky. The robots crashed to the ground several metres away, colliding into the wall of the cooling tower with such force that the ground trembled.

"We have to move!" Eva gasped, unable to breathe as giant metal fists began to fly amidst the cloud of dust and mortar kicked up by the impact. Her fellow human didn't seem to hear her, sitting with his mouth open as though traumatised. She grabbed hold of his sleeve, yanking on it. "Quinn!"

He gaped at her for a moment – eyes wide with silent, horrified questions – before snapping back to his senses and scrambling upright. Eva took him by the hand and launched into a sprint, both of their footfalls pounding in her chest as she led him around to the far side of the cooling tower. They were running so fast that they didn't have time to stop as a huge metal hand suddenly appeared from behind the building: they slammed against its ice-cold palm, losing their grip of each other's hands as they bounced away and fell flat to the ground. Eva landed on her back – but Quinn had somehow managed to spin around and end up on his face, so he didn't notice that the hand was reaching for him until it was too late. Eva could only watch in stunned silence as the unfamiliar black and gold Decepticon took Quinn's hood between his thumb and forefinger, lifting the petrified human clean into the air.

Mere seconds before he was swallowed up by the sleek GT Mustang that the Decepticon was rapidly becoming, Eva caught sight of the expression on Quinn's face. There was fear there – blind, unbridled terror – mingled with shocked accusation. This was her fault. Then, with the snarl of a fiery engine and a rush of exhaust fumes, both Quinn and the Decepticon were gone.

She didn't have time to dwell on the severity of what had happened; Kingpin blazed past her in vehicle form, hot in pursuit of his comrade. Moments later, Uppercut rushed by; still in robot mode and wielding an energon-fuelled cannon instead of an arm. He came to an abrupt halt and took aim at the retreating Decepticons, but apparently thought better of it as he realised that they were already out of range. He dropped both arms to his sides, glowering after them for a moment, before turning away to quickly approach Eva. He crouched down beside where she was still sitting, stunned, on the ground; doubling over her in concern.

"Eva?" he asked in anxious tones, delicately helping her to her feet. His concern tripled as she threw her weight against his hand, burying her face in its metal plains. "Are you damaged?"

"They took him-!" she gasped, throwing back her head to stare desperately into the faceplates of her guardian. She wasn't crying, but he could feel her tiny hands trembling as she clung to his own for support. "They – they took Quinn!"


	9. Solitude

When Quinn awoke to find himself locked inside a cavernous holding cell somewhere deep in the bowels of the Bandit, it quickly became apparent that he didn't have the faintest idea of just what the hell was going on. There were, however, several things that he did know: he was cold, he was hungry, and he was completely alone. Oh – and he was in completely over his head.

Gingerly, still dazed from fatigue, he pushed up from the ice-like metal floor of his cell and crawled onto hands and knees, staring around with bleary eyes. There was nothing in here besides himself and the cold – the latter of which was intense enough to tighten his chest to the point of coughing. The walls and ceiling, too, were made entirely from steel or something similar; unmarked and featureless. The only thing even vaguely interesting to look at was the huge ventilation shaft high above, from which poured an unpleasant draft and a weak bluish glow. It was like the lights in public restrooms, he recalled; the ones designed to prevent drug addicts from shooting up in the privacy of their cubicles. If that was its purpose – though he heavily doubted that it was, for some reason – then it was certainly doing its job; he couldn't see any colour in his skin at all, and that unnerved him.

Quinn sank into a sitting position, massaging his aching head as he tried to figure out how he had gotten here – wherever 'here' was. After a moment of wheezing for breath, he remembered seeing Evangeline Larsson outside a shabby-looking house downtown. His heart skipped a beat when he thought about her, but soon sank as he recalled what had happened next. Some random pickup truck had appeared out of the blue and scared the living daylights out of her, and then she'd forced him into her aunt's gorgeous old Sedan. And then – oh, right… _that's_ why his head was hurting so much. The pickup had rammed them and he'd whacked it against the dashboard. Tentatively probing several fingertips across his temple, Quinn wondered how many days it would be before the bruise faded.

Not that a patch of miscoloured skin was particularly important in the midst of a _humongous car-monster throw down_. Even though thinking about it added several more layers of pain in his head, he couldn't prevent his mind from recalling the details of what had happened next. Eva's car and the black pickup had suddenly turned into… well, he didn't know _what_ exactly; but holy cow, was it a sight to see. They were machines, _massive_ machines, like nothing he had ever encountered before. The closest thing he'd seen was on a documentary he'd caught the tail end of several years ago, about some intelligent humanoid robot made in Japan – but that thing was tiny.

Quinn shook himself back to reality, and promptly burst into a second round of coughing. He knew that he probably shouldn't be able to think so calmly given his current situation, but was also aware that running around in panicked circles wouldn't do his lungs any good either. Instead; he drew his hoodie closer around himself, beginning to rock back and forth with the hope of generating some body heat. He couldn't remember much after that third robot had picked him up off the tarmac, turned into a car and carried him away from the factory. One thing that stood out to him in the rhythmic whirl of sound and colour was a burst of green light; he had no idea what it was, where it had come from or what it did – but something told him that none of those things were probably good.

He dug in the pocket of his jeans, fingertips brushing against the plastic casing of his inhaler as he fished out his mobile phone to check the time. Seven PM, almost. The sudden idea of calling the emergency services for help was cut prematurely short, as he spotted the tiny 'no signal' icon in the top corner of its touch screen. So much for that.

As Quinn stowed his phone back away, he was completely unaware of the fact that he was being watched. Relay peered into the cell through the tiny observation window in the hydraulic door, optics narrowed as he studied the unfamiliar human. After hearing that Gearbox and Kingpin had returned from Earth with one of the Autobots' fleshy acquaintances, he'd been expecting to see the young reddish-haired girl or the older one with dirty white clothes. This one was a complete stranger.

Relay stepped back from the cell, wordlessly passing several Vehicon guards as he kept to the shadows on his way back toward the upper deck. Moving amongst the darkness was something of a habit: there were fewer questions asked, fewer inconvenient holdups when no one knew that you were there – and that was perfect for a 'bot who would much rather keep to himself. Sure; Kingpin liked to think of the two of them as partners, but Relay was far from a team player – and he _certainly_ wasn't anybody's lackey. Especially not that two-bit sky-witch's, who seemed to have everyone else wrapped around her sharp little fingers.

And speaking of the witch…

Relay paused in movement as his optics fell upon Jetstream's slender back. She was standing with that hulking suck-up Downburst on the observation deck, staring indifferently out across the depths of space as the Bandit hovered high in Earth's stratosphere. Relay sank back into the shadows for a moment, watching them. So… Downburst was sticking around this time? He must have missed that memo. As the commander's right hand 'bot, it was no secret that the two of them didn't get along.

Mustering his courage, Relay stepped out into the half-light and began to approach his superiors. Ever observant, Jetstream noticed his light footfalls first; she inclined her head coolly, apathetically, and flicked threatening crimson optics in the direction of the advancing sports car. But to the contrary, it wasn't until Relay was within servo's reach that Downburst realised they were no longer alone.

"Pardon the intrusion," Relay began, putting on an airy tone as he addressed the female Seeker. He was quick to drop formalities, however, and placed a hand on his hip as he came to a halt before his fellow Decepticons. Downburst was easily twice his height – but if Relay was intimidated, he didn't let it show. "Just wondering, n'all… but why are we keeping that fleshbag here – _alive_? Seems to me like an awful waste of resources to keep that cell pumped with oxygen, just so it don't suffocate. Not that breathing looks like one of its talents, anyway."

"You dare to question our lady?" Downburst began, starting forward. Relay cocked his head to one side, unflinching even as Jetstream raised a hand and motioned her fellow flier to stillness.

Jetstream locked the much smaller Decepticon with an idle glare, inwardly surprised by his audacity as she placed a dissuading hand on Downburst's chestplates. "That human is priceless to us," she replied softly. "The Autobots are known for their desire to protect innocent life… and the lengths to which they will go to prevent human blood from being spilled. With that creature as our hostage, alive, we have a distinct advantage over them: in order to reclaim him in trade, we can force them to do whatever we desire."

"And… that'd be?" Relay asked, shrinking back a fraction as she leaned dauntingly toward him.

"We are Decepticons, Relay," she smirked, optics reducing to cruel slits. "Think about it."

The sports car's nerve finally faltered, forcing him to take a step back from his commander. As she turned back toward the broad window, however, he cleared his throat and placed a hand in ruse over his spark chamber. "In that case – let _me_ do the honours," he offered, hoping to reinstate his reputation. In his fervour, he didn't notice the first faint trace of irritation ripple over the Seeker's frame. "My alt mode's better suited to keepin' a human contained than either of yours are, and I'm _much_ more familiar with the Earth – not to mention I blend in better. Let me take care of everything, commander, and I'll-"

"You'll _what_?" Jetstream snapped, not even bothering to turn around as she cut him off. "Brush off my command again? _Fail me_ again?"

Relay flinched, bracing for a slashing flurry of claws. Downburst watched the sports car's blatant display of cowardice in disapproving silence, clenching both fists in the face of his spinelessness.

"What we have been presented with, Relay, is a golden opportunity to gain the upper hand over the Autobots," she stated coolly, observing distant comets flash across the glittering black canvas of space. "I will not allow anyone, particularly you, to squander it. No… I will lead this mission _myself_."

Downburst suddenly lowered himself in a deep bow, optics to the floor as he offered his services. "And how might I serve you, my lady?"

Jetstream turned on her heel, brushing past Relay without so much as glancing at him. "Prepare yourself for battle," she said. "I may require a warrior's assistance once I arrive on Earth. Following that; summon Gearbox. Have him keep watch over this imbecile while we're away."

Downburst stepped around his small, sky blue comrade without another word. Jaw clenched, Relay glowered after the pair of them – watching in fractious silence as his superior officers vanished through the hydraulic door and out of sight.

* * *

><p>"It's a strange thing for me to ask of you, I know… but… I don't know what else to do."<p>

Uppercut gazed awkwardly down at the dark-haired human who stood before his crossed legs, watching as she plucked stray threads from her rather worn white halterneck. Despite how he and her niece had retrieved some spare garments on their recent, and disastrous, road trip; Vicky had flatly refused to change clothes in the abandoned warehouse that the Assault Ranger's crew were using as a temporary base. 'What if someone's watching?' had been her reason. Admittedly, Uppercut couldn't quite grasp the concept of clothes in the first place – surely they only reduced manoeuvrability and hindered the transformation process? Then again, he supposed that humans didn't have to worry about such problems.

"I'll see what I can do," he replied, before giving a shrug of the shoulders. "But something tells me that _your_ words are the ones most likely to make an impact. Human emotions aren't really something I've studied in great detail."

Vicky almost laughed. "You seem to have a better grasp of hers than I do," she said, as Uppercut got to his feet with slight difficulty in the cramped conditions. Even though his movements were deliberate and careful, she couldn't help but duck as the Autobot stepped over her and began to head for the corridor.

Longscope and Rebound could just about manage in the human-sized warehouse, but Uppercut found moving beyond the main area of their 'base' to be quite a challenge. If he wasn't in the mood to crawl on hands and knees, he would convert to vehicle mode to travel between the rooms. Even in that form, however, it was no easy task; the Sedan was much longer and wider than the average car that could be spotted on the streets of Boulstridge. Sheer determination was what got him from quarter to quarter – determination, and persistence.

He found his quarry in one of the smaller storage rooms near the back of the warehouse. She was sitting dejectedly atop an upturned wooden crate, legs crossed and back hunched as she stared unseeingly at the dusty floor. Uppercut studied the open threshold separating the two of them with cautious optics, doubting that he could fit through without taking great chunks out of the connecting walls in the process. He settled instead for poking his head through the doorway, and quietly cleared his vocal processors to announce his arrival – just in case she'd missed the scraping of his knees on the floor in transit.

"Eva?" he began, after several moments of silence.

She inclined her head to acknowledge his presence, but not enough to meet his gaze. As his faceplates rearranged themselves into a frown, he wondered if that had been her intention. He studied her posture, her lack of speech, with an expert optic. He'd witnessed this type of behaviour before, many a time in fact, on the battlefield. Soldiers who'd watched comrades, friends, brothers, be snatched into oblivion by the enemy. For some, the shock of experiencing such loss firsthand had been enough to make them lose all contact with their emotions. It was painful for him, as a medic, to simply observe those soldiers – those _souls_ – destroy themselves from within. And though he knew that the circumstances were vastly different, he couldn't help but notice the similarities between those Cybertronians and Eva.

"Why did they do it…?" she mumbled, aimlessly twisting and untwisting the hem of her jeans. Her voice was flat, detached – but he detected quiet hints of a tremor in her tone. He waited for her to continue, silent and unmoving in the corridor. "Why take him… and not me?"

Uppercut's spark sank fractionally deep within his chest. "Would you rather them have taken you?" he asked gently. Probing through her thoughts was unlikely to be painless, but he knew that making her face her demons now could be beneficial in the long run.

Eva lowered her head, still not looking at the Autobot. "Quinn has nothing to do with you," she explained angrily. After a pause; she whipped around atop the crate to face him squarely, aggravated desperation in her eyes. "He has nothing to do with _any_ of this; not the Autobots, not Cybertron, nothing – not even me!"

"You're saying that boy was a complete stranger?" Uppercut asked, confused.

The human shook her head, frustrated. "That's not what I meant," she muttered, strands of auburn hair slithering free of her ponytail. She swiped them back without patience or concern. "He's a boy from my class; a friend, I suppose… but that's all. He doesn't know the _first_ thing about me."

"He knows that you like 'alien movies'," Uppercut recalled.

Eva glowered him to silence, but soon dropped her gaze. "It's my fault that he's been dragged into this whole mess, isn't it?" she began. The Autobot stared at her with one optic ridge inquisitively raised, not quite sure of how she'd come to that conclusion. "I should've just told him to leave straight away, instead of dawdling on the sidewalk. Then those stupid _Decepticons_ would never have even seen him – they'd have just chased you and me."

"You can't know that for sure," Uppercut interjected. She faltered, and was surprised to see that he was wearing what could only be described as a reassuring smile. "But _I_ should've known better than to abandon you so that I could fight that 'Con. I should never have let you out of my sight – either of you. Decepticons rarely travel by themselves, especially when they know they've got their enemies outnumbered. I was an idiot for thinking he'd be alone."

Somewhat consoled; Eva managed a tiny, grateful smile – but the expression was quick to fade. No matter what he said, Quinn was still in needless danger and no amount of rueful words could change that fact. Uppercut seemed to read her mind, and shifted slightly in his crouch.

"You know," he said, furtively trying to ease the ache in his cramping servos. "You're not alone either, Eva. We're here to protect you – Longscope, Rebound, and me. We might have gotten off to a bit of a shaky start, but… we're gonna do our best to look out for you and the rest of your kind. It's our job, what we do; and that means we're going to come up with a way to get your friend back. I know you didn't ask to become involved in our war, but now it's your job to stay strong – no matter what happens – until the smoke clears enough for us to get you home safely."

Their eyes met for a split second – a single moment that pierced the division of species and struck a strange connection between human and Cybertronian. She found herself studying the honest determination in his crystal blue optics, the courage – the genuine sympathy. It was a very bizarre feeling; something warmed deep inside her chest, as though she was staring into the eyes of a trusted long-lost friend.

Uppercut's confusion returned as he heard a swift breath of laughter escape her lips. "What's wrong?" he asked, apprehensive. "Did I say something strange?"

"No, you didn't," Eva grinned, shaking her head. She pushed to her feet, intertwining her fingers in childish embarrassment. "It's just… usually, when humans comfort each other after something bad happens, they hug. I'm just thinking that might be a little difficult for us, since you're almost three times my height and all."

The Autobot smirked, comforted to know that she was at least managing to find humour in the current situation. He leaned to one side, shoulder-mounted doors brushing against the opposite wall, so that he could slide a servo through the doorway and into the storage room; offering to shake hands as a compromise. With a grin, Eva took tentative hold of his index finger. Even its flat, square-shaped tip was roughly the same size as her palm.

"We never went through proper introductions, did we?" she remembered all of a sudden. Uppercut shook his head. He had learned the humans' names through overhearing snippets of their conversations, but realised with a slight start that she was right. "Well then… I'm Evangeline Larsson, but you can just call me 'Eva' for short."

"My name is Uppercut; medical officer and weapons' specialist of the Assault Ranger Autobot scout vessel," he replied formally. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Larsson."

With nothing more to say, they simply stopped and smiled at each other for a moment. A sudden crunch of static over Uppercut's comm. system was the only incentive that prompted them to break the contact. The Autobot flinched; he withdrew his hand to place one digit over the audio processor in his helm, abruptly distracted by the incoming call.

"_Wrap it up already, big guy. 'Scope wants you both back here, pronto."_

"Rebound?" he asked, unnerved. Eva's expression somewhat mirrored his own as she approached, slipping through the threshold to join him in the tall corridor. "What's going on?"

"_The 'Cons just sent a tight-beam transmission to the boss-lady. They wanna cut us a deal to get that human kid back."_


	10. Trade

In every great battle for survival, sacrifices must be made. War cannot perpetually exist without two or more opposing forces desiring the same objective. In the case of the Cybertronians, that objective was the AllSpark. The Decepticons' lust for power and the Autobots' desire to restore peace gradually ripped their planet apart, soon driving both factions off-world to wage their war amongst the stars as Cybertron dimmed into a distant memory. Their struggle eventually brought them to Earth, home world of humankind; a planet that might otherwise be considered insignificant in the eyes of the 'Transformer' race. The endless conflict continued, for the most part unseen, right under humanity's nose.

'For the most part' wasn't exactly an ideal concept in Longscope's processor, however: she would much rather the Earth's inhabitants not even know that Autobots and Decepticons existed, let alone become as directly involved in their war as they already seemed to be.

Leading a convoy of three in her black and orange vehicular form, Longscope tilted her wing-mirrors for a better view of her comrades. Similarly cloaked in their terrestrial disguises, Uppercut and Rebound silently followed her lead along the country road – the space behind their windshields for once not unfilled. Longscope frowned internally as her gaze fell upon the two humans acting passenger inside her fellow Autobots: the one named Evangeline was riding with Uppercut, the older Victoria sitting in Rebound's driver-side seat with both hands gripping the wheel uncomfortably.

"We're nearing the rendezvous coordinates," Longscope began all of a sudden, halting her own train of thought. "When we arrive, you two should position yourselves somewhere out of sight immediately."

Though she had attempted to dissuade them multiple times on the long journey from Boulstridge, the two humans had simply insisted on accompanying the Autobots to the Decepticons' exchange coordinates. The sniper usually prided herself on her ability to win most arguments using logic and solid data, but had been quick to learn that Vicky's sheer determination and Eva's blunt persistence were forces to be reckoned with. The fact that her comrades had so obviously taken likings to the two of them also hadn't really helped her case. What worried her most with regard to their new allies, however, was how the Decepticons might react to them bringing more organics onto the scene. On the one servo, they could think nothing of it – perhaps not even cast the humans so much as a second glance. The possibilities on the other servo were much less promising.

The tiny convoy passed by a faded signpost, continuing single-file down the narrow gravel road. Overgrown weeds whipped at their tyres from both sides, olfactory sensors ablaze with the smell of the countryside. The Decepticons had been somewhat intelligent in their choosing of location – a disused military airfield in the middle of nowhere was the perfect place to arrange a trade. A tall (by human standards) mesh fence enclosed their destination's perimeter, the only point of entry being a loosely-chained gate by the roadside. Uppercut momentarily took point as they left the gravel and mounted the unkempt grass; he rammed into the gate with considerable force, snapping the chains and granting access to the airfield. The drive toward the derelict runway was bumpy and awkward; the silence between Autobots and humans alike remained decidedly heavy right up until they slowed to a halt on the cracked tarmac. Atop the faded white markings, the four-wheeled Cybertronians both opened their doors to let their passengers out.

"You _do_ realise that we're probably waltzing straight into a trap, don't you?" asked Uppercut, as Eva stepped out onto the runway. Once sure that she was clear, he shrugged out of his Sedan-shaped disguise and straightened up. Rebound swiftly followed suit to his left, as Vicky strode across the painted ground to her niece's side. "The 'Cons didn't even tell us what they wanted in exchange for Quinn – just gave us these co-ordinates."

"I know," Longscope replied, similarly switching to her bipedal form. "But we came to Earth in response to a message from Optimus Prime, requesting assistance in the protection of humankind. Turning a blind optic to this summons, risky though it is, doesn't exactly correspond with that."

Several neglected aeroplanes flanked both sides of the runway. The sniper motioned Eva and Vicky toward the closest, keeping both her scanners and optics peeled as she did so. The aircraft's front landing gear had folded in on itself, causing the entire fuselage to shear clean from the main body and crumple to the ground like a decapitated head. Both of its wings had also come loose over the course of time, and were similarly resting on the tarmac. Though a sorry sight in the optics of its fellow machines, the broken craft provided ample cover for the humans.

"What is this place?" asked Rebound, sounding unnerved as he watched the two of them crouch amongst the debris. He then flicked his gaze across to a dilapidated fighter jet and shuddered audibly. "Some kinda machine graveyard?"

"It was a military base during World War Two," Vicky explained, poking her classy head out from behind the fuselage. "After the war, the personnel just up and left – leaving everything exactly as it was to fend for itself against the elements."

Longscope let out a breath of humourless laughter. "After the war," she repeated, bemused. "Now there's a phrase you don't hear everyday."

Without warning, it seemed; the gentle background track of birdsong suddenly vanished, replaced by an ominous silence. The Autobots tensed as one, scanning their surroundings as the sound of approaching engines reared from the abrupt quiet. Optics ever the keenest, Longscope spotted the source of the disturbance first. A squadron of sleek purple cars was fast approaching from the far end of the runway, led by a familiar black pickup truck. Advancing high above the pickup was an equally familiar desert-coloured assault helicopter, rotors chopping the stagnant air rhythmically, but she didn't recognise the final oncoming vehicle – a silver stealth plane – at all. It was streamlined and lightweight, its model dubbed by humans as a Boeing F-15SE Silent Eagle. The Eagle seemed to be leading the charge; it continued forward like a bullet even as the majority of the ground-based convoy slowed to a halt a good distance down the tarmac. Longscope threw out a cautionary hand as Rebound made to draw his weapons, shooting him a warning glance as several of the purple automobiles roared past to encircle them. A temporary truce was unavoidable, unless they wanted to risk the captive human's safety.

With a swift shriek of metal, the Eagle seemed to burst out of itself; a pair of long, sleek legs swung forth from its undercarriage to catch the tarmac in an abrupt landing. The Decepticon, slender and unquestionably effeminate in build, straightened up at the centre of the runway, placing a hand on her narrow hip as the helicopter touched down smoothly behind her.

"Don't get antsy, kid," Uppercut quietly advised his vaguely Nissan-shaped comrade, unmoving as Kingpin pulled up directly behind them to prevent a retreat.

'Antsy', however, was the least appropriate word to describe Rebound at that moment in time. A look of startled horror had dawned on his faceplates in the same instant that the Decepticon transformed; he was perfectly still, as though frozen in fear, gawping at her like a small rodent under the gaze of a very large, very hungry cat.

The female Decepticon seemed to notice his stare. "Well, well," she began, in an amused voice that was both cruel and strangely enchanting. Her blood-coloured optics looked the stunned Autobot up and down several times, a dark smirk creasing the corners of her lips. "Small universe. It has certainly been quite a while, hasn't it? Let me guess – _you_ were the one piloting the Autobot ship. I should have recognised that combination of reckless manoeuvres and sheer, blind luck."

Longscope inclined her head just enough to catch her comrade's optic. "You know her, Rebound?" she asked.

His expression hardened into one of spiteful loathing as he appeared to regain the power of speech. "_Oh_ yeah," he replied, tone suggesting that he would much rather she be a complete stranger. He then met Longscope's curious stare, and shrugged as though the details were unimportant. "Her name's Jetstream – she's a right nasty little fragger."

"'Rebound'?" Jetstream repeated playfully, folding her arms. "Is that what you call yourself now? How… _charming_. Tell me; do your allies know about your deliciously dark, twisted past?"

With a low snarl, Rebound reconfigured one of his arms into its cannon form. He had taken steady aim at the Seeker's head before either Longscope or Uppercut could intervene – but refrained from firing a round straight into her processor with difficulty. "We didn't come here to talk about me, yeah?" he spat, ignoring both the threatening growls of the surrounding Vehicons' engines and his surprised comrades' protests. Jetstream didn't even flinch under the glare of his weapon. Instead, its presence only seemed to widen her smirk. In contrast to his master, however; Kingpin, still in vehicular form, crept several inches forward on the cracked tarmac, approaching the Autobots menacingly. "I ain't afraid of you. Tell us where the human is – _or else_."

"Human?" Jetstream asked, raising one sharp hand to her angular chin in mock deliberation. She then shifted her weight onto one leg, positively oozing contempt. "What human? Oh – do you mean _this_ pathetic creature, perchance?"

The blacked-out, bubble-shaped cockpit on the Seeker's chest promptly sprang open; something small and flailing fell out with a startled yell, tumbling some twelve feet through the air before hitting the ground with a dull thud. Quinn rolled onto his front with a groan, coughing weakly and cradling the arm that had broken his fall. A long scratch, encrusted with dried blood, ran the length of his cheek, and his clothes were laced with rips and dirt. The bright sunlight seemed to daze him; he stared around blearily, winded from the sudden plunge, and froze as his gaze fell upon the anxious-looking Autobots. His eyes then locked onto Uppercut – who he recognised as Eva's 'car'. The recollection appeared to calm him somewhat, but provided little comfort in the current situation.

"Quinn!" gasped Eva, covering her mouth as she leaned out from behind the decaying fuselage. Vicky was standing behind her, gripping her niece's shoulders in subconscious attempt to pull her back out of sight. The terror on Quinn's face faded slightly as he caught sight of his fellow humans: he scrambled to his feet and started toward them – but was forced to throw himself back onto the ground as Jetstream's metallic foot planted itself firmly in his path. He gaped up at the Seeker's enormous heel with a slack jaw, trying not to imagine what could have happened if he hadn't stopped running in time.

"What do you want from us, Decepticon?" Longscope demanded, clenching her fists. It felt strange to be confronting the enemy with her rifle still stowed away – a sensation that she didn't take to in the slightest. Behind her, Rebound slowly began to avert his blaster for fear of hitting Quinn.

Jetstream let the softest laugh escape her lips. "_Decepticon_… hm. Do you know why they call us that?" she asked, examining the tapered fingers of one hand for a moment. She rotated her wrist casually, as a human would inspect her nails, completely unabashed as the Autobots exchanged brief inquisitive glances. "Because we _deceive_."

In less time than it took to blink an eye – Jetstream had swept her arm downward and converted it into the shape of a sleek energon-fuelled blaster, taking direct aim at Quinn. The human ducked instinctively, for all the good it would do against the fury of a gigantic alien robot, and covered his scruffy head as the charging glow from its barrel coloured his body a hot shade of crimson. Uppercut and Rebound both raised their weapons and started forward – but Longscope whipped around and placed her hands on their chestplates, stopping them cold in their tracks.

"Stand down!" she ordered fiercely, over the grinding soundtracks of Kingpin and Downburst's conversions into their natural forms. Several nearby Vehicons also abandoned their terrestrial disguises in response to Autobots' drawing of arms, wordlessly taking aim at the trio. Rebound flicked his glare from 'Con to 'Con, as though itching to engage them with all guns blazing. Uppercut paid slightly more attention to the sniper's command, but similarly kept his blasters raised. "I said, _stand down_ – do not make me repeat myself a second time! Lower your weapons, both of you!"

"You would be wise to listen to her," Jetstream called, taunting. She moved her weapon so close to Quinn's cowering form that he could feel its heat singing beads of sweat on his skin. "Unless all three of you drop your guard and surrender yourselves to me immediately, this creature will soon be no more than a tasteful scarlet smear in the dirt – and the other two will follow shortly thereafter. One shot per insect is all it will take, I assure you."

Uppercut glared at her for a moment, but eventually dropped his gaze to the sniper. Longscope was staring unseeingly off to the side, jaw clenched as she swiftly worked something through her processor. "If we surrender, you will let the humans go?" she asked. She then turned on her heel, meeting Jetstream's optic sternly. "Unharmed – _all three_ of them?"

"Unharmed," the Seeker smirked. "All three of them."

Taken aback, Rebound looked to his unofficial superior. "'Scope, _no_," he hissed through tight vocals. "We can take 'em!"

Longscope met his gaze, the grim realisation on her faceplates silencing him instantly. "No, we can't," she said. She then turned away from him again, optics narrowed in quiet defeat. "Victoria, Evangeline; collect Quinn and evacuate the area immediately. Autobots – deactivate your weapon systems."

The burly Kingpin suddenly lunged forward with a roar, charging straight for the Autobot trio. The sniper tensed and stood her ground, unmoving even as her comrades threw themselves to either side and out of the brute's path. Longscope raised her hands in front of her face; the enormous Decepticon seized her arm and span her aside like a ragdoll, clamping around her wrists what looked to Eva like a set of futuristic handcuffs. Longscope's frame suddenly snapped straight, as though she'd received an electric shock; she staggered for a moment, letting out a strangled gasp, before crumpling limply to the ground with a crunch of metal on tarmac. She lay motionless with optics open wide beneath her visor, paralysed by some invisible force.

"You fraggin' _snake_!" snarled Rebound, starting toward the still-smirking Jetstream. Downburst leaped clean over his master, propelled by ankle-mounted thrusters, and landed heavily before the much smaller Autobot – blocking his path. Kingpin then turned on Uppercut, a second set of stasis cuffs at the ready as the Sedan balled his fists in preparation to resist capture. He rushed forward, ducking beneath the Decepticon's swing whilst simultaneously throwing a punch of his own. Kingpin seized hold of Uppercut's fist with his free hand, halting its momentum with ease, and threw him hard to the ground. The Autobot landed gracelessly on his front, facing the direction of Eva and Vicky's hiding place, and felt the breath rush out of him as Kingpin sat down atop his back. With his writhing opponent pinned in place, Kingpin clamped the cuffs onto Uppercut's wrists and paused to triumphantly watch them take effect. Uppercut continued to squirm sluggishly for a moment, but soon fell still as his circuits were eventually overwhelmed.

Despite Longscope's orders, Eva found herself sprinting out from behind the fuselage – _toward_ the Decepticons. "Uppercut!" she cried, dashing for her guardian as Kingpin pushed himself back upright. Vicky barely managed to catch hold of her niece's wrist, wrenching her to a halt before she could fling herself into harm's way. Quinn had finally found his feet; he ran between Rebound and Downburst's legs and skidded to a halt beside his fellow humans, grabbing hold of Eva's other arm to help Vicky haul her to safety. "_Uppercut!_ Get up and fight – please! You have to get up!"

"Eva – stop it!" Quinn hissed, struggling to hold her back. "It's not safe! We need to get out of here!"

"No!" she screeched, pulling so hard against their combined grip that she thought her arms might come lose from their sockets. Hot, stinging tears began to well in her eyes; their moisture causing her lashes to cling together and smart uncomfortably. "_We can't leave them!_"

One of Eva's earliest memories was of an accident in primary school. She'd been sitting at the long lunch tables with all of the other children, and one of the teachers had been walking between the rows to check that everyone was eating without problems. Thinking that he had passed, Eva had pushed back in her seat to stand up. The man's feet had caught in the legs of her chair and he fell hard to the floor, dislocating his kneecap. That was the first time she had ever seen an adult cry – and as she helplessly watched Kingpin and Downburst combine their efforts to wrestle Rebound to the ground, a part of her wondered if the crumpled face of that crying man was mirrored in her own expression now.

"Someone help them!" she begged between choked sobs, feet skidding on the tarmac as Vicky and Quinn dragged her back with immense difficulty. She didn't know to whom she was pleading – science told her that there was no God, and no amount of military force could possibly hope to pose a decent threat against the Decepticons. They were completely alone: no-one was coming to help. Eva rejected that reality with every fibre of her body, screaming defiance at the top of her lungs.

With a slight flourish, Jetstream directed her blaster toward the trio of struggling humans; her faceplates rearranging into an annoyed expression. "Child," she warned, tones sharp with impatience. "You begin to irritate me. _Silence yourself_, or I will do it for you."

Eva stared straight into the glowing barrel of the Decepticon's weapon for a moment – but her line of sight suddenly became obscured. Something ethereal, inexplicable, like a pinkish-green vortex of swirling light and sound, exploded to life halfway between Jetstream and the humans. All eyes and optics fixed on its fluctuating presence, witnesses gaping in shock and wonder at the apparition. It hovered effortlessly in midair, fluid in stillness, a translucent ghost that cast the scene in an odd shade of celadon.

Eva wasn't entirely sure what happened next. One moment she was gazing, spellbound, at the circular phantom; the next – the depths of hell erupted from silence all around her. Four gigantic robots burst from the portal, all guns blazing as the squadron of Vehicons surged forward to greet them head-on. Eva barely had time to register their presence before the force of a tremendous explosion blasted her and her fellow humans clean off their feet. Winded, she untangled herself from a flustered Quinn – and froze.

They were Autobots – the stern faces embossed onto various sections of their frames told her so. The widest one, coloured army green, was tearing through the Vehicons with fists like spiked wrecking balls mere metres in front of her. The ground shook with the sheer weight of his footfalls and attacks; the humans scrambled upright and scattered to keep from being trampled. Eva rushed toward her motionless partner, leaping to the side as the lithe yellow and black robot cut across her path and took a powerful swing at Downburst. He blocked the hit with ease, halting the Autobot's movement barely long enough for Eva to sprint between their feet and continue forward. She was too busy dodging the falling Vehicons to notice that Jetstream was making a beeline for her; the Seeker swiped Eva clean up off the ground, oblivious to her screams as she leaped out of the Autobots' range and brandished her captive.

"That's quite enough!" Jetstream hissed, applying pressure with her dangerous fingers. Their sharp edges dug into Eva's arms, drawing blood, her grasp restricting the human's ability to breathe. Eva spluttered in pain, unable to fight back even if she'd wanted to. The strangers' movements ceased when they realised that the Decepticon had a hostage. "Stand down, all of you, or I'll slice her into pieces!"

The tallest Autobot, coloured mainly red and silver with cobalt accents, raised a cannon-shaped arm in open threat. "Release her!" he ordered; his voice a deep, rumbling growl.

Jetstream increased her jagged grip of Eva in reply, prompting her to wail in agony – but the motion proved an ineffective deterrent. The Autobot opened fire, his blast catching the Seeker squarely in the shoulder. She snarled, fingers splaying in response to the surge of pain, involuntarily flinging Eva aside. Sky and solid ground whirled end over end, pitching Eva's insides back and forth until a pair of solid metal hands carefully plucked her out of the air and arrested her momentum. The smallest unfamiliar Autobot, slender and blue, crashed to the ground from her flying leap with the human clutched safely to her chestplates.

Energon splattered to the tarmac from Jetstream's fresh wound, but she paid it little heed as she stared demandingly around for her troops. Most of the Vehicons were immobile on the ground, but Kingpin was hunched over with both arms held behind his back by the green Autobot – and Downburst pinned by the yellow one's blasters at point-blank range. She took an unsteady step back, clutching her wound, fiery optics narrowed in barely-contained fury.

"Decepticons… _retreat_," she breathed.

The remaining Vehicons dropped into their terrestrial forms at once and screeched into frenzied motion down the runway, Kingpin wrenching free of his captive and similarly opting to flee in vehicular mode. Downburst soon reluctantly followed suit, only moving to withdraw when his master had turned on her heel and begun to sprint after her soldiers. She then propelled herself into the air, reassuming her stealth jet profile in mid-leap before shooting away into the sky.

Eva jumped slightly as the blue robot eased itself up into a sitting position. Vicky and Quinn hurriedly approached between the fallen Vehicons, watching apprehensively as the Autobot carefully lowered her to the ground. Eva stepped down unsteadily, staggering a little as she watched her decidedly female saviour rise to her pointed feet and brush herself off. Vicky seized her niece in a tight hug, avoiding her fresh cuts but still somehow managing to transfer blood onto her own white top, as Quinn came to a breathless halt several feet away.

"Bulkhead, Bumblebee," the tallest stranger began, tone both soft but authoritarian as he steadily approached the humans. "Free our new allies from their restraints. We must help them back to base and have Ratchet assess their condition. Arcee… are you alright?"

"Peachy," Eva's feminine saviour replied, shrugging her strange shoulders as though catching airborne humans was a regular pastime.

The commander then lowered himself slowly onto one knee; doubling over before the humans as Eva, Vicky and Quinn huddled together in the face of his sheer size. He was enormous – several metres taller than Uppercut, at least. His head alone was easily as long as Eva was tall, but there was a certain gentility about his being – a kindness that somehow prevented him from being overly intimidating.

"Do not be afraid," he said soothingly, calmingly, gazing down at the awestruck humans with clear blue optics. "You are safe now; the Decepticons cannot harm you so long as you are with us. My name is Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobot Earth team. I fear that you three have suffered many hardships on our kind's behalf. Because of that, we owe you an apology – and an explanation."


	11. Autobot Outpost Omega One

"Try to keep still for me, honey."

Eva pinned her hands between her knees, perched on the edge of a broad sofa atop an elevated platform in one of the most amazing rooms she had ever seen. She was too excited to sit still: her frequent twitches were only partially caused by the sting of sterilising fluid that the dark-haired, teal-clad nurse beside her was dabbing into the lacerations on her arms. The room was filled to the brim with aliens – _robotic_ aliens, taller than houses and clad in brightly-coloured metal armour. Sections of their frames resembled vehicle parts, for a reason that she was already more than familiar with; tyres, headlamps, doors, wing mirrors, licence plates, exhaust pipes and aerials protruded and interlocked amongst their 'skin'. She didn't know which awe inspiring machine she wanted to stare at most.

Vicky was standing in overwhelmed silence behind the sofa, arms folded loosely beneath her chest to retain some sort of grasp on reality. A bubbly Asian girl with exuberant pink-streaked hair was sitting on Eva's other side. The girl had introduced herself brightly as Miko, and the nurse as June. Miko had done most of the talking since their arrival in the Autobot base, now that Eva thought about it. The platform was additionally occupied by several more humans – all male, to her mild distaste. Two boys, one significantly shorter and younger than the other, were engaged in friendly conversation with Quinn in front of a well-used television set. The younger boy seemed sweet and cheerful, with swept-back brown hair and thick glasses, while his peer looked closer to a better-groomed and much more serious version of Quinn than anything. According to Miko, their names were Raf and Jack respectively. And then, finally, there was the dark-skinned adult leaning on the railing closest to the Autobots. He must have led a stressful life, if his attitude and girth were anything to go by. His face was all stern angles and lines; Miko had unenthusiastically introduced him simply as 'Fowler'.

Instead of making small talk with the new human arrivals, Fowler – like Eva – seemed more interested in the robots. He was watching Uppercut, Rebound and Longscope like a hawk from his vantage point on the platform – studying their profiles as the trio stood side by side atop the enormous Autobot logo that was emblazoned onto the panelled floor. He and Eva both watched as Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobot Earth team, slowly approached the newcomers from the far side of the command centre. His troops – three of whom Eva recognised and a fourth she did not – were gathered in silence behind him. Her gaze lingered momentarily on the blue female; the one who had spared her from becoming a splotchy red mess all over that abandoned runway.

"It is an honour to welcome you here, Autobots," Optimus inaugurated, coming to a halt before the crew of the Assault Ranger.

"The honour is all ours, commander," Longscope replied, stepping forward with a sincere expression on her faceplates.

The Prime studied her and her comrades for a moment, something close to relief forming in his optics. "Have you anything to report from your interstellar travels?" he asked.

Longscope drew herself up importantly. Even at full height, the pronged crest on her forehead was barely on level with his midriff. Their difference in size didn't faze her in the slightest, however; after a swift clearing of vocals, she adopted her usual precise demeanour and began to recount the tale. "Approximately four point six-three solarcycles ago," she began. "Our ship detected an Autobot communication that had been transmitted to the stars by yourself an indeterminable time prior. We abandoned our self-assigned scouting duties and set a course for this planet in response to your summons, but were intercepted by a Decepticon craft after entering this solar system. Our ship was heavily damaged in the assault, and we were forced to make an emergency landing outside of the region named 'Boulstridge'. We adopted alternate Earth-based forms and attempted to make radio contact with this base, whilst maintaining our cover and fending off the Decepticons."

"Megatron?" Optimus carefully intervened.

"Negative, sir," the sniper replied. "Our assailants acted under the command of a Seeker named Jetstream, who seized the human boy as her captive and used him in attempt to force us into surrender. There are at least four Decepticons under Jetstream's leadership, in addition to an unknown number of Vehicon drones."

There was a brief moment of silence as Optimus paused to darkly contemplate something. "Jetstream?" repeated the Autobot that Eva didn't recognise. He looked older than the rest of the troops, somehow, coloured amber and white. She recognised the jagged symbols on his arms as those of an emergency vehicle. "Can't say that I'm familiar with the designation."

Optimus twisted his torso slightly to cast him an enquiring glance. "Run it through the archives, Ratchet," he said, before turning back to face the Ranger's crew as the medic obediently moved toward a high-tech computer terminal nearby. There was the faintest hint of a sympathetic smile about the commander's smooth features, the look of a father welcoming indoors his drenched children from the rain. "Nonetheless; the well-being of you three, and your young companions, is, at the moment, our highest priority. It is best that you remain here to recuperate, at least until my medical officer can perform thorough diagnostics of your systems."

"I, uh…" Rebound began all of a sudden, uncharacteristically quiet as though uncertain whether or not he had the right to speak up. Unable to meet Optimus' gaze directly, he stared instead at the scratched windows set onto their commander's broad chestplates. "I have a question… sir?"

"Go ahead."

"How did you all find us way out there?" asked the Nissan-bot. He then gave a discrete shrug, shaking his head. "I mean – I'm glad you did, and all, but… how'd you guys know where we were?"

The navy-coloured female, Arcee, gestured a sleek hand toward the series of monitors nearby as she replied. "We intercepted a Decepticon transmission on a Tachyon frequency," she explained, as the black and yellow scout – introduced by Miko as Bumblebee – nodded silently beside her. "Those things stand out, you know? Anyway… it listed a set of rendezvous coordinates. Sounded pretty serious, too, so we thought it might be worth checking out – and lucky for you that we did."

Holding one arm steady as June proceeded to wrap sterile bandages around her cuts, Eva creased her brow. "A Tachyon frequency?" she repeated. June gave a slight start beside her, and joined the other fourteen individuals present in gawping at the redheaded teenager. Faltering under the pressure of their stares, Eva looked directly at Longscope. "I thought you said the 'Cons reached you on a tight-beam transmission… or is that the same thing?"

Uppercut shook his head, one hand on his hip. "No – it's completely different," he replied. "You see-"

"She's right," the sniper spoke over him, distracted. She then flicked her optics across to her fellow female motorcycle, sceptical. "Are you certain that is what you detected?"

Arcee folder her arms, looking almost offended. "Positive."

The wide green Autobot, Bulkhead, gave a baffled groaning sound. "I don't see the problem," he said, apologetic in perplexity.

"Our ship's Tachyon transmitter was captured by the Decepticons not long after our arrival on this planet," Longscope explained, turning to face him squarely. Bulkhead seemed surprised by her direct approach – intimidated, almost, as though he didn't know how to react to her no-nonsense attitude. "It's entirely possible they used it to inform someone else about the hostage situation, but…"

"Who would that be?" Optimus concluded after the sniper's voice had trailed into silence. She glanced up at him, surprised, before giving a curt not of the head. The Prime gave a deep, internal sigh; thinking for a moment, before slowly shaking his own. "Another matter for another time. What of your ship?"

Rebound let out a pained sigh, placing both hands on his hips. "Not even fit for scrap…" he muttered. "She's rusting in peace at the bottom of a lake. There's no fraggin' way we can salvage her, and after all she's been through… uh – sir."

The commander seemed unfazed by the Nissan's choice of language. "Small though our numbers may be when compared to the bulk of the Decepticons' forces," he began. "We five are steadfast in our mission to protect humanity from Megatron's evil… and, we would be honoured if you three were to join us in that task. Our doors will always be open to you; Longscope, Uppercut, Rebound."

Longscope turned to face her comrades for a moment of quiet discussion – but was surprised to see that they were both watching her expectantly. Rebound folded his arms playfully, grinning. "Well?" he said under his breath. "You're the boss lady. What's the verdict?"

The sniper then raised an optic ridge toward Uppercut, who shrugged. "I'm fine with whatever you decide," he told her in muted but earnest tones. "We may not be a team anymore in the sense of having our own ship, but… I don't know if I could get used to you just being an equal. You've always been my superior; it's in your nature. I trust you to make the right decisions – we both do."

Longscope dropped her stare to the floor, flicking her optics from panel to panel before eventually raising them toward the humans' platform. Vicky and Eva looked straight back from amongst the unfamiliar faces, similarly awaiting her conclusion. Her gaze then fell upon she scruffy-haired Quinn, whose cheek was already dressed with a long plaster. He gave a slight start as their sudden eye-contact was established; straightening up, he chanced a small smile. The sniper found herself returning the gesture, but turned back to face the Earth team before it could evolve into something more.

"We are grateful for your offer, Optimus Prime," she began, placing one hand over her spark chamber. "But… we cannot accept. This base is yours, and yours alone. For stellarcycles, we have travelled as a lone unit amongst the stars. We do not belong here."

"If that is your choice," the commander replied sincerely. "We respect your decision. Have you discovered anywhere to establish a base of operations of your own, during your short time on Earth?"

"We've been using a derelict warehouse as a temporary shelter," Uppercut explained, gesturing a hand. "It's not perfect, though… a tad small for my liking. I suppose we could stay with the humans if all else fails. Jetstream's troops know their faces, after all – they'll be in danger if we just leave them be."

It was then that Fowler spoke up for the first time. "I gotta list of potential locations if you guys need a new place to set up shop," he offered, adjusting his tie importantly. "Of course; I'd prefer it if all you 'Bots stayed in one place so I can keep an eye on ya, but…"

"We will take your recommendations into consideration, agent Fowler," Optimus stated, bowing his head in unspoken thanks. He then inclined his head toward the preoccupied medic, who seemed to sense his stare after a moment of tapping on the keys beneath the monitors. "Ratchet; please provide our new allies with the necessary equipment to operate from a remote location – including medical tools, a small supply of energon, and a replacement means of long-range communication."

Longscope seemed surprised, even as Ratchet made to head for the supply vault whilst leaving a trail of muttered complaints in his wake. "You… do not object to us remaining separate from your team?" she asked, suspicious.

"This is your decision," the Prime reiterated. "Freedom is your right. As such, you are free to choose your own path. I have but two requests in exchange: you three may continue to function independently of us, on the condition that you keep us informed of the situation. If there is any disturbance with regard to the Decepticons, do not hesitate to contact us and request for backup if necessary. Also…"

Eva tensed slightly as the Autobot commander turned his head to face her and the other humans. Vicky's hands had found her niece's shoulders, squeezing slightly as Quinn stepped across the platform to stand beside them. Miko drew her legs up onto the sofa, studying her fellow teens with mild interest.

"Though the safety of humankind is our main objective," Optimus continued. "That of Evangeline, Victoria and Jason must be your priority. They are but three of the few humans on this planet who know of our existence. That fact, as you stated, puts them in grave danger. Jack, Miko, Rafael, agent Fowler and nurse Darby have all proven to be most invaluable assets to us on more than one occasion. Perhaps these new allies may be of some assistance to you, as well."

At the centre of attention, Eva put on a shy smile as she silently willed the couch to swallow her up. Vicky seemed to be thinking along similar lines – but Quinn somehow managed a laugh. He gave a buoyant salute, grinning. "We'll do our best," he said.

* * *

><p>Bulkhead straightened up, working a crick out of his back with a sigh. "That's the last of it," he said, gesturing toward the metal crate that he had just carried in from the supply vault. Longscope glanced up, crouched before a small pile of similar boxes in the entrance of the GroundBridge tunnel. The ex-Wrecker couldn't help but smile in response to her preoccupied wave of the hand, placing his huge fists on his hips as he stared down at her. "You guys sure you're gonna be alright on your own?"<p>

The sniper got smoothly to her feet, looking past Bulkhead toward her comrades. Uppercut was chatting to Eva, Optimus Prime, Arcee and the three adult humans, his polite air apparent even from across the command centre, while Rebound seemed to be showing off for Miko and Rafael with one blaster out and ready. Jack and Quinn were standing on the floor a short distance away, casually exchanging stories. Sitting cross-legged beside them, the Autobot named Bumblebee watched the exchange between male teens with obvious interest.

Longscope's gaze lingered on Quinn, who paused momentarily in the recital of his kidnapping to cough into the back of his hand. He then continued speaking as though nothing had happened, and Jack similarly seemed not to notice. "We aren't on our own," she replied, shifting her weight onto one leg with servos crossed. Bulkhead seemed confused, but faltered as the first warm smile she'd worn in what felt like an age dawned on her faceplates. It was a rare expression – one that suited her much more than stern authority. "We have three very sensible humans to teach us about life on Earth."

The ex-Wrecker grinned behind his chin guard. "I heard from the little guy that you weren't a big fan of fleshies," he commented. "Are they growin' on you already?"

Longscope rolled her optics behind the visor of her helm, but smirked. "Perhaps," she sighed. "Perhaps not. I suspect you were the same way when you first met your organic… acquaintances?"

"Miko kinda weirded me out at first, more than anything," Bulkhead shrugged. He turned to gaze across at the young Asian teen, smiling as she and Raf watched Rebound take aim at imaginary Decepticons in awe. "It was just strange to see how… _unafraid_ of me she was. Heh, that's Miko for ya; not scared of anything or anyone – except spiders."

"Spiders?" the sniper repeated, vocals catching on the unfamiliar word.

Bulkhead thought for a second. "She says they're like Scraplets – but for humans," he said bemusedly, as his diminutive partner began to prance about the platform and mimic the midnight-blue scout's battle movements. Raf and the other humans watched her pass, their expressions ranging from confusion to blunt embarrassment.

The sound of approaching footfalls alerted Longscope to Uppercut's presence. He came to a halt beside her, inclining his head in acknowledgement of the much larger Bulkhead before catching his superior's optic. "Are we almost ready to roll out?" he asked. As he spoke, the sniper couldn't help but notice the many stylistic similarities between his frame and that of the yellow Autobot. Must've come from the same protoform mould, she thought.

"Just waiting on Rebound and the humans," was her light reply. She then cast a brief glance at Ratchet, who was fiddling with the GroundBridge controls to their immediate right. "Agent Fowler has provided us with the coordinates of a disused military bunker, situated underground rather conveniently close to Boulstridge. It should serve as our new base of operations quite nicely – hopefully with ceilings high enough for you to stand under."

"Ha ha," Uppercut grumbled sarcastically, folding his arms. Bulkhead snickered to himself, before drawing back a heavy arm to clap the teal and white medic on the back. Uppercut staggered forward from the impact, shoulder-mounted doors rattling as he stumbled to regain his balance.

The GroundBridge tunnel flared to life behind them, signalling that it was time to move. Beside the humans' living area, Rebound stowed away his cannon and pouted. "Frag, and I was just startin' to have fun," he muttered. A sudden _clink_ drew his attention downward; Miko was gripping the platform's railing with both hands, bunches still bouncing on either side of her head from the sudden movement of rushing forward. She looked almost as put-out as Rebound felt – though not quite as disappointed as Eva, who was approaching forlornly with Vicky by her side. The scout vented his breath, and then extended both hands palm-up as makeshift elevators. "Alright, gang – let's hit it."

Eva chose not to voice her dissatisfaction with leaving so soon as she seated herself on one of Rebound's palms, watching in silence as her aunt clambered up onto the other. Rafael nudged at his glasses beside Miko, similarly gloomy to learn that their fellow humans were departing already. The base hadn't been this rowdy in a while – not since Wheeljack's welcoming party. Rebound straightened up, carefully carrying the humans across to where his comrades stood waiting. Arcee and Optimus followed, leaving June and Fowler to regroup with the children atop the platform, as Jack and Quinn exchanged a brief parting handshake at ground-level.

Rebound stooped in the tunnel's entrance, holding his hands steady so that Eva and Vicky could drop down safely. Feeling somewhat dejected, Eva headed automatically across to Uppercut's feet. Noticing her shift in mood, he sank into a crouch to greet her. She shook her head in response to his inquiring expression, but he didn't seem to catch the hint.

"What's wrong?" he asked, as Quinn wandered over to stand beside them.

Eva turned around, casting her gaze deliberately across the now-gathered members of Team Prime and their human companions. They stared back at her, curious, uncertainly awaiting her reply. "It feels like we only just got here," she mumbled. She then looked straight into her partner's optics, having to crane her neck even with him doubled over. "This… is everything I've ever dreamed of. Incredible beings from another world – on Earth – interacting with humans. With me. It's selfish of me, I know, but… I don't want to leave yet."

"Come off it, titch," Rebound shrugged, rolling his optics. "You've still got us, ain't you? Besides… it's not like we're never gonna see these guys again. We _incredible beings_ have to stick together, after all."

Arcee shot him a stern look – but broke from her comrades' ranks and joined Uppercut in kneeling before the redheaded human. Surprised, Eva made to fold her arms; flinching as her fingers brushed against the fresh bandages. "You're welcome to come back and visit whenever you like," the blue cycle-bot began. She paused to give an encouraging smile, something vaguely mischievous playing about her features. "More than enough humans already drop in and out of here as they please – why not add three more to the list?"

A small distance behind her, Ratchet let out a disapproving hiss and crossed his arms.

"This facility's doors will always be open to you – to all of you," Optimus affirmed, stepping forward. "Safe journey, Autobots. Should you ever need a moment's respite, know that you have sanctuary here."

Longscope faced him squarely, moving to speak on behalf of her Cybertronian comrades and organic associates alike. "Thank you, commander," she said. Arcee straightened up, exchanging a swift smirk with her fellow female motorcycle, before heading back out of the glowing tunnel as Uppercut pushed to his feet. He and Rebound silently divided the stack of metal crates between them, lifting the small load easily as the sniper started at walking pace down the tunnel.

The GroundBridge pulsed momentarily brighter as Longscope stepped into its vortex, swallowing her whole, and twice again as Uppercut and Rebound followed shortly after. Eva, Vicky and Quinn exchanged nervous glances; unable to keep from grinning, as though daring one another to leap through first.

_So… have you thought about your next move? I mean – you've just finished your last exam: you're officially out of education. What's the plan, E?_

Despite her initial reluctance to leave, Evangeline Larsson suddenly found herself running. She was racing her aunt, racing Quinn – racing her own doubts and fears – toward the swirling mass of green light that represented the new path in life she had found. Following the Autobots would surely be dangerous, but she didn't care: if she had to choose between danger and normality, then she chose danger. She'd lived a 'normal' life for eighteen years – and not one moment of that time could possibly hope to measure up to the thrill of these last few days, cuts and tears and all.

The plan? she thought, sprinting down the GroundBridge tunnel with Vicky and Quinn hot on her heels. I'm going to help the Autobots. I'm going to do everything in my power to help them win against the Decepticons, and nothing – on Earth or otherwise – is going to change that.


	12. Skeletons

"Funny looking thing, ain't it? What d'you think it is?"

"It appears to be some kind of carnivorous mammal… excessive fur is possibly indicative of origination from a colder climate. But… how in the AllSpark did it get in here?"

"…I wish you wouldn't use such fancy words, doc: I haven't got a clue what you just said. Is it dangerous, or not?"

Benedict mewed innocently, staring up with enormous eyes at the two Autobots that crouched before him. Even though they were both hunched over for a closer look at the tiny, unknown life form; Uppercut and Rebound towered over the feline intruder like curious human children would dwarf a writhing ant. Uppercut extended a single finger, as though moving to poke the minuscule creature, prompting Benedict to arch his back; black-brown and white fur bristling. A pair of soft human hands suddenly cupped themselves around his sides from behind, lifting him cleanly into the air.

"It's called a _cat_," said Eva, cuddling the confused Benedict to her chest in attempt to reassure him. She then swept her head to the side, flicking stray locks of fringe out from in front of her eyes, and smiled intelligently up at the Cybertronians. "A kitten, more specifically – and he's far from dangerous, so don't get your cables in a twist."

Uppercut straightened up slightly where he knelt, furrowing his chromed brow. "If you say so," he began, still sounding wary. "But the question of its presence remains. This base is impregnable; the entrance is monitored at all times, so we would have seen it coming in."

"_It_ has a name, you know," Eva replied. She cradled the kitten as she spoke, as though distracting him from harsh words. "Benedict – my pet, remember? He was lonely, so I brought him with me. You drove me home once so that I could feed him."

Sudden comprehension dawned on the teal and white medic's faceplates, but Rebound remained decidedly sceptical. He stared down at Benedict as though mildly annoyed, trying to work out how anyone could find his qualities as a pet appealing. After a moment, however, he shrugged and placed both hands on his angular knee-guards; rising smoothly from his crouch. "I ain't got time for this," he began wearily, stepping back. Eva met his optics with a curious stare, prompting him to elaborate. "'Scope wants me in the field ten cycles ago, investigating a stray energon signal out by the coast."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Eva asked automatically.

Uppercut followed his comrade's lead without warning and similarly got to his feet, something close to amusement playing about his expression. "I think there might be, actually," he said, grinning. He stepped carefully over Eva, and began to head across the barren command centre of the Autobots' new base.

All things considered, the base wasn't entirely dissimilar from the Omega One Outpost. Agent Fowler had cleared the crew of the Assault Ranger to 'set up shop', as he'd put it, inside of a disused, subterranean military bunker on the outskirts of the city. The ceiling was much higher than that of their temporary warehouse base, meaning that Uppercut could move between its quarters without having to stoop. As such, Eva was forced to jog to keep up with him. Strategically-placed floodlights illuminated the vast command centre, reflecting off metallic surfaces all around in a state of perpetual midday brightness. Paying little attention to his surroundings, the medic made a beeline for an open panel in the floor where Quinn and Vicky were already waiting.

Quinn was lying on his front, dirt on his face and both arms reaching though the gap in the floor. An array of human-sized tools were scattered around him, along with his discarded hoodie and what looked suspiciously like some sort of chicken wrap. Perched on an upturned metal crate nearby, Vicky watched with arms folded apathetically as the scruffy-haired teen poked ineptly at various wires and circuits through the missing panel. Eva had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at the sight of him, not trusting herself to speak.

Uppercut dropped once more to his knees a short distance from Quinn; Vicky gave her niece a subtle wave as Rebound found himself following despite Longscope's orders. "We hit a slight snag while trying to install the equipment that Optimus Prime's team gave us," the medic began to explain, as Eva approached the crate that was serving as her aunt's new chair. "Since this bunker hasn't been used for stellarcy- um… years, some of the wiring has fallen into pretty bad shape – and our hands aren't small enough for such precise work."

"If you ask me, skater boy there's kinda lacking in mechanical skills," Rebound smirked, folding his arms.

Quinn stuck out his tongue, but soon wriggled into a sitting position and wiped his brow with the back of one hand. "Hey – give me power tools and I'll build you the best wardrobe you've ever seen," he huffed, before sinking into a slouch and reaching for his abandoned lunch. "Screwdrivers and pliers… are another story."

Eva rolled her eyes, handing a disorientated Benedict to her aunt before kneeling on the other side of the open panel. Peering inside, she spotted a very dusty circuit board; complete with fraying wires and fingerprint-shaped clean patches. She then lowered herself onto her front, mimicking Quinn's recent pose, and reached for the narrow screwdriver that lay nearby.

"Weren't you ever taught how to wire a plug in high school?" she asked, over the sound of Rebound's retreating footsteps as she set about in search of blown fuses.

Quinn paused in the act of removing the cellophane from his wrap, grinning sheepishly. "Yeah, I was," he replied. "But I'm no good at stuff like that. Well, unless it's in a videogame – when all you have to do is press a button and it's done."

Eva shook her head, listening to the crunch of lettuce as Quinn took the first bite out of his meal. To her surprise, however, he set the remainder of the wrap aside and lay back down on the floor to help her. "You'll give yourself stomach-ache," she warned, raising a suspicious eyebrow as she located a charred fuse. He gave a muffled grunt in response, making her uncomfortably aware of their proximity. Their heads were almost touching in the confined space; close enough for her to hear the click of his jaw as he chewed.

They fell silent for a while, Eva doing the majority of the work as they attempted to rewire the aged circuit board. Vicky looked on absently, petting Benedict, as Uppercut seemingly thought it best to leave the humans alone; he manoeuvred cautiously upright, and crossed to where Rebound was preparing himself for his recon task. Eva found herself vaguely wondering why the sniper of their team was absent – before sudden, unintentional eye contact with Quinn derailed her train of thought.

"I was wondering," he began quietly, so that only Eva could hear him. Slightly flustered, she gave a falsely-curious smile and reached for a set of pliers. Quinn took a second to swallow, and shrugged. "How come you live with your aunt?"

She cast him a chary glance. "That's kind of a personal question, isn't it?" she asked.

Quinn winced. "My bad," he replied, apologetic. He was looking directly at her, arms dangling limply through the open panel. "I just figured… you know, since we're friends and all…"

"We're friends?" Eva repeated, incredulous.

"We've shared classes since the age of twelve," said Quinn. "Media, English, maths, to name a few – not all in the same years, mind. Plenty of quality time spent together, right?"

Eva struggled to keep her stare on her hands. "And yet, we barely know each other," she stated. There was a hint of scathing to her tone – she didn't like the direction that their conversation had taken.

Quinn pushed up onto his elbows, expression deadly serious, and looked her straight in the eye. "See this?" he began, extending an arm toward her. She brushed her fringe to one side reluctantly, shifting her gaze to the silver bracelet that was fixed around his offered wrist. Embossed into its surface was what looked like a serpent coiled around some sort of stick, flanked by the words 'MEDIC ALERT'. She studied it for a second, and nodded. "It's to let doctors know that I have _type two_ brittle asthma – a rare subtype that means I spend more time in hospital than the average asthmatic."

Eva nodded again, slowly, uncertain of how she was supposed to respond.

"My middle name is Lucas," Quinn continued sincerely, returning to rest his weight on both elbows. "I'm known to pull all-nighters for online videogame matches, I can't cook to save my life, I've never scored lower than eighty percent on any exam, and I've been saving for a Harley Davidson for as long as I can remember."

Slightly overwhelmed, Eva arched her eyebrows. "Fine," she replied, tone inquisitive. "And you're telling me this because…?"

"Just so you know a bit about me, is all," he shrugged, ears tinged pink. He then let a grin form on his lips, and inclined his head to one side. "Now it's your turn."

She blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"Fair's fair, right?" Quinn reasoned, only faltering when he spotted irritation dawning in her expression. "I mean… you know some of my secrets. Shouldn't you owe me some of yours?"

Eva forced herself into a sitting position, tossing the pliers to one side rather more powerfully than she had planned. They clattered noisily across the panelled floor, the metallic sound oddly shrill through the sudden silence. "I don't owe you anything," she hissed, clapping her hands impatiently free of dust. "Just leave me alone, Quinn. The less we have to do with each other, the better."

From their vantage point on the nearby crate, Vicky and Benedict both watched in surprised stillness as the redheaded teen pushed upright. She was on her feet and striding away before Quinn even had chance to sit up, heading to where the two Autobots were standing in a similar state of shock. Sensing her frustration, Rebound stepped forward cautiously as she neared. "You, uh…" he began, hesitant. "You wanna come with? I'm ready to head out, if you want some air."

Eva nodded wordlessly, pausing in her approach only to allow the scout chance to switch forms. Quinn scrambled to his feet as the midnight blue Autobot dropped smoothly into vehicular mode, but knew better than to give chase. Eva wrenched open Rebound's driver-side door and climbed inside, still silent, as the sound of a feisty twin-turbocharged engine flared to life through the command centre. In less than a minute, the two of them were gone – driving out through the base's steep exit tunnel and leaving a very confused Quinn at the centre of attention.

"I guess that came out wrong," he muttered, awkwardly scratching the back of his own neck. Uppercut folded his arms, speechless in agreement, and stared perplexedly into the tunnel's dull entrance.

A shuffle of clothing alerted Quinn to Vicky's presence. He turned to see her approaching slowly, Benedict cradled in her arms like a baby. "It's nothing personal," she began, rubbing noses with the kitten. "She's never been too good at dealing with the opposite sex – not since her mother passed away."

Quinn furrowed his brow. "I'm not sure I get the connection," he replied, slipping both hands uneasily into his pockets. "If you don't mind me asking, that is."

Vicky smiled forlornly, meeting his gaze with sympathetic eyes. "It's not easy for her to trust," she explained. "She doesn't allow people to get too close to her, male _or_ female, for fear of being betrayed even in the slightest way… like her father betrayed her mother."

* * *

><p>Eva stared dully out of Rebound's windshield, hands clamped between her thighs as she watched the world flash by on the other side of the glass. In the twenty minutes or so that they had been driving, the scenery had become decidedly more rural. Rolling hills and sheep-dotted fields scrolled past, their idyllic peace disturbed by the snarl of the Nissan's engine. Neither human nor Autobot had uttered a word since their departure from the base; Eva found the silence reassuring, but Rebound felt it distinctly uncomfortable.<p>

"I don't mean to pester, but…" he began all of a sudden, luring Eva from her melancholic daze. She stared at the grim-faced insignia on his steering wheel, watching it glow blue with every word he spoke. "You're pretty quiet. Everything alright? Quinn didn't do anything to upset you, did he?"

The human sighed, sinking in her seat. "It's nothing major," she replied with a shake of the head. "I suppose I could have handled myself better… he only wanted to know why I live with my aunt."

Rebound faltered. "Vicky's your aunt?" he asked flatly, before taking a second to shift gear. "Heh, whoops. And here I thought she was your mother."

"My mother died a long time ago," Eva said, giving a discomfited smile. Somehow, she found it strangely easier to discuss the subject with Rebound than she had with Quinn. Maybe it was because he was a Cybertronian – someone who she didn't see as a 'man', as such – or perhaps it was because he wasn't demanding anything of her in return. Either way; it didn't matter. With every syllable that left her lips, an odd weight seemed to rise from her chest alongside it. It almost felt good to finally be telling someone what she had wished to keep silent all this time. "She drowned in a bathtub when I was nine."

"Oh…" was Rebound's simple reply. "I'm sorry. Uh… what about your father?"

"Hopefully, rotting in prison," she uttered. The scout gave a slight start at her unsympathetic tone, prompting her to elaborate as she had done to him before. "He was the one who held her under the surface and watched her skin turn blue."

Surprised, Rebound found himself at a loss of how to reply. Instead, he fell silent; concentrating on the twisting country road ahead. Beyond the rickety fences and worn stone walls, several sheep gave surprised bleats as the unfamiliar 'car' swept by. The air streaming through his vents was crisp and cool, fresher than that of the city. It made Eva's words seem real, somehow – a brutal honesty that chilled his spark. He knew from his days in the war that Cybertronians were more than capable of turning on each other – but _humans_? He'd always thought of them as a peaceful race; humble, fragile creatures that were to be protected at any cost. Always – ever since…

"I'm not like Quinn," Eva said without warning. "I won't ask to know your secrets in exchange for mine. It makes sense in theory; but in practice, it's not how the world works. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to."

Rebound smiled internally, unnerved by how she seemed to have read his mind. "That's good," he replied quietly. "Because I don't know if I'm ready to relive my past yet. But… I will be someday. Not now – but someday, I promise."

Eva opened her mouth to respond, but was halted by a short, sharp _bleep_ from the small LCD screen on Rebound's dash. The image flicked to some kind of aerial radar display, complete with revolving scan line and a stray blue blip near the top of the screen. Eva glanced curiously at the steering wheel's insignia, hoping for an explanation.

"We're close," the scout said in distracted tones, slowly easing to a halt on a grass verge by the roadside. Once stationary, he opened his driver-side door and unlatched Eva's seatbelt. She caught the hint, and climbed out onto the pebble-strewn tarmac.

"What exactly are we looking for?" she asked, stepping back as Rebound proceeded to drop his disguise. Several nearby sheep watched in bemused amazement, chomping mechanically on grass, as the Nissan-turned-robot straightened to his full thirteen feet; he stepped over the low fence to their left, motioning Eva to follow but keep a safe distance. She clambered over the wooden railing with slight difficulty, maintaining jogging pace in pursuit as the scout began to head across the field.

The grass was thick and clumpy underfoot, the ground uneven and peppered with clusters of clover flowers. There was a definite downward slope to the terrain, bumpy and treacherous, leading to a rocky cliff face that overlooked the sea. A decrepit, old-fashioned lighthouse loomed in the middle distance; windsock blustering idly in the chilly breeze. Tranquil – yet oddly sinister. "'Scope picked up a stray signal out here a few megacyles back," Rebound began, his voice uncharacteristically low. Eva tried her best to keep up with his enormous steps, stumbling on the potholed ground. "An energon reading. Could be nothing… but the boss-lady says it doesn't hurt to investigate."

Rebound approached the very edge of the cliff, kneeling just before where the ground began to drop sharply toward the uninviting water far below. There were numerous protruding ledges here and there in the rock face, littered with tufts of wild grass and flora – and something else, something that definitely didn't belong. Rebound tensed automatically, reconfiguring one arm into its weapon form without as much as a second thought.

"Vehicons," he uttered.

They were miners – the off-purple hue of their armour was an instant giveaway. He counted four, five, six of them – scattered amongst the ledges and tunnelling into the cliff face with handheld drilling machines. Eva similarly stiffened on sight, leaning over the verge for a better look at them. Rebound pulled her back by the collar of her shirt, distastefully aware of how his comrades would react if they knew he'd put her in danger.

"Go find somewhere to hide," he whispered, pointing defiantly toward the road.

"You're not thinking of taking them all on by yourself, are you?" Eva hissed, remaining exactly where she stood.

Rebound scowled. "Six against one sounds like good odds to me," he replied under his breath, before sighing. "Just… stay here if you're not gonna move, okay? This won't take long."

Without another word, the scout vaulted over the edge of the cliff. He dug the digits of one hand into the rock face to slow his descent, skidding down the sharp slope to a narrow ledge below. Taking a nanoklik to regain his balance, he glanced around; two Vehicons were working on an unstable outcrop to his right, another busy scaling the boulders just below them. Rebound steadied his blaster, aiming for a section of particularly weak-looking stone beneath the ledge.

One shot was all that was needed to loosen the first two Vehicons' foothold: the entire projection came away with a great splintering of stone before either miner could react, sending them both plummeting down the cliff face and straight into the third. All three of them tumbled, yelling, into the water far below amidst a rain of fractured rock and debris. Rebound ducked to hide, but too late – the other three Vehicons had already spotted him, and opened fire on his position. Crimson blasts knocked loose fragments of stone above; they showered down like hail and bounced noisily off his chassis.

"Didn't think of that," he muttered to himself, shielding his head as he found himself unable to move for better cover – or, indeed, for a better angle on the other Vehicons. A stray shot whizzed past his audio receptor, exploding against the cliff face several metres above. He thought nothing of it at first – until a sudden, high-pitched shriek made his energon run cold. He looked up in time to see Eva attempt to dive for safety; the rocks that had served as her ground knocked loose by the blast and plunging in sheared pieces toward the sea. She slammed onto the edge of the verge, clumps of grass tearing beneath her fingers as she desperately scrambled to pull up. Rebound watched her slip with optics wide; limbs still working frantically even as she fell, Eva tumbled from the cliff like a stone amongst a scattering of dislodged boulders. On instinct, Rebound reached out to catch her – losing his own footing in the process. He clutched the terrified human to his chestplates as the two of them plummeted toward the sea, reaching blindly for something – anything – that might break their fall.

They clipped a jagged outcrop several metres above the base of the cliff, sending them crashing down atop a narrow stretch of slippery causeway mere inches from the water's surface. Rebound landed hard on his arm, able to feel something snap as he fought to keep himself from rolling off into the water. He barely had time to force himself upright and glance at his surroundings before the Vehicons resumed fire – a small cove led into the cliff face on the immediate left, offering cover. He rushed inside without pausing to consider options, and deposited the still-gasping Eva on the damp floor before returning to the entrance with weapon drawn. Before he had chance to return fire, however, he found himself ducking between huge chunks of rock that were falling from the ceiling. With a start, he realised that the Vehicons weren't shooting at him – they were trying to block the mouth of the cove with a cave-in, sealing himself and the human inside.

"Back, _back_!" he shouted, turning to sprint deeper into the tunnel and out of harm's way. Eva scrambled to comply, shielding her head as she ran – and that was the last thing that Rebound saw before one of the more substantial boulders smashed against his helm and turned the world black.


	13. Submerged

'_The sky's on fire.'_

_He ran through the battle-forged trenches of Iacon, dodging for cover between toppled security towers with blasters aflame. Twisted, broken bodies of Autobots littered the once-glorious square outside the impenetrable Vault, strewn to rest beneath a blazing crimson sky, their mangled parts bleeding into one another. He dived behind a dead, ravaged tank – only to find a Decepticon already hiding there. It was Jetstream, garbed in sharp Cybertronian armour and busy recharging her weapons. She appeared not to notice him, but whirled out from hiding and ruthlessly opened fire in the direction from whence he had sprinted. He ducked as a stray enemy blast knocked strips of metal from his cover, shielding his head with jaw clenched as he stepped out to join Jetstream in her assault._

_Suddenly, there was water. He could taste it, sense it flooding his mouth and throat, but couldn't see it. He clapped both hands to his faceplates, spluttering and gasping, strangely able to feel no moisture on their chromed plains. There was no water on Cybertron, and yet he could feel himself choking on it. Drowning in it. Dying in it._

Rebound gasped awake with a start, droplets of saltwater sent flying in all directions as he reeled back from the flooded floor of the cove. Spluttering in shock, he tried to kick himself away – but the water was everywhere. There was very little light; he forced on the headlamps in his chestplates in a frenzy, the sudden flare of brightness catching the rippling veil of liquid that coated the rocky ground. Panicking, he stumbled back; each footfall an unnerving crash of metal against fluid until he slammed into the wall of the cave.

"Rebound – calm down!" cried a fearful voice.

It was Eva: she was standing atop a pile of rocks nearby, huddled against the wall as though the floor was made of lava. Her hair was lank and tangled, the skin of her face glistening strangely under Rebound's headlights. The scout seemed to recover a vague grasp of his senses – enough to realise that he was in pain. His right arm was hanging limp by his side, sharp heat flashing through its circuits erratically. Then he remembered; the Vehicons, the fall, the rockslide. A dull ache in the crown of his head accompanied the rush of memories, making him stagger.

He turned around unsteadily, placing his functional hand against the wall of interlocked boulders that had once been the cove's entrance. The rocks were packed too tightly to move or blast safely, but loosely enough to allow incoming seawater through the gaps. Trying to keep his nerve, he stepped back; twisting to face Eva whilst clutching his damaged arm. "Are you okay?" he asked, in a voice of forced calm.

"For now," she replied quietly, motionless. She then glanced at the submerged floor, swallowing hard. "But I don't know how much of this cave will be underwater when the tide's finished rising."

Still fighting to retain his composure, Rebound raised his functional arm to tap against his audio receptor. "'Scope?" he began uncertainly, fiddling with a dial on the side of his helm. "Doc? Team Prime, hello – a-anyone hear me?"

Eva took a shuddery breath and watched Rebound tense. It was probably a combination of moisture and the rock-enclosed environment that was preventing him from getting a signal, she theorised. That knowledge proved to be little comfort, however, as the scout dropped his servo back to his side.

"No dice," he said, trying and miserably failing to appear more upbeat than he actually felt. Seemingly steeling himself for the worst, he made a slow approach across the cave toward Eva's position – unable to ignore the sloshing that sounded in place of his footsteps. He then stooped slightly, offering her his working hand palm-up. She climbed onto it, an act made difficult due to the slippery nature of its wet metal surface, and clung to his fingers for support as he lifted her up to shoulder-height. "We'd better start moving. The cave might slope up above the waterline… we'll be safe there until I can reach the others."

Eva stepped onto his shoulder and sat down, careful not to slide clean off his smooth armour. "We could try to call Vicky on my mobile," she offered, reaching for her jeans pocket. "I managed to keep it dry while you were out – there's none now, but I'll keep my eye on its signal."

"Good idea," said Rebound, turning to face a small opening in the rock that appeared to lead deeper into the cliff.

"Wait!" Eva cried all of a sudden, leaning forward. Rebound froze, unnerved by the echo of her outburst. She was staring intently toward the back of the chamber, eyes narrowed through the darkness. Something had glinted in the momentary sweep of Rebound's headlights as they turned, something composed of neither stone nor water; something almost… _metallic_. A Vehicon? She raised a hand to point, nervous. "Shine your lights over there again. I can't quite see…"

The scout complied, and faltered. There was something embedded in the wall, mostly concealed by rock and grime. A patch of gleaming silver caught the light spectacularly, drawing him forward. Rebound crouched before it, attempting to dig it out by wrenching out the surrounding chunks of rock. Once he found an edge to the cool, steel-coloured object; he took firm hold with his functional hand and pulled. It came loose with minimal effort, which he supposed was lucky, and clattered noisily to the waterlogged ground.

A Vehicon, it most definitely was not. It was almost elliptical in shape, wider at one end than the other, roughly human-sized and built entirely from complex, tightly-interlocked metal fragments. Eva felt her mouth slacken as she stared down in wonder; though the object looked unmarked and smooth beneath the dirt, there was something vaguely reminiscent of the foetal position about it. She had never seen anything like it – and neither had Rebound, judging from his stunned silence. The water lapped against its alien surface, beading like dew on a duck's feathers.

"What is it…?" Eva heard herself mumble.

"Looks almost like… a stasis pod," the scout replied under his breath, running a hand across its shell. "That's impossible, though – it's way too small. Still, it looks… _Cybertronian_. The doc'll wanna see this."

Rebound took careful hold of the pod and straightened up with difficulty, sliding open a deep compartment in his chest. It was a tight fit, but he managed to slip the artefact inside without much of a struggle for ease of carrying. Once certain it was secure, he replaced the covering panels and turned back to face the tunnel entrance.

"Come on – let's get outta here before I start to rust."

* * *

><p>When Longscope returned from patrol to find their new base eerily quiet, she immediately suspected that something was amiss. Shifting into her bipedal form, she found Uppercut busy searching through his medical equipment in the command centre. Two of the three humans – plus a strange, miniscule, furry creature – were engaged in serious conversation on the floor nearby.<p>

"Where are Rebound and Evangeline?" asked the sniper, studying the humans' faces as she strode swiftly across the room.

Uppercut gave a slight start, having been too preoccupied to hear her arrive. "Welcome back," he replied, flicking his optics her way only for a moment before returning to his previous task. He was hunched over one of the crates that had been supplied by Team Prime, digging impatiently through its content. "They left a while ago to scout that signal you detected, only… we haven't heard from them since. It's been megacycles, and Rebound didn't contact us with precise coordinates. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about them…"

Longscope watched him fixedly for a moment, before turning to face the humans. They were both gawping up at her in obvious apprehension, as though at a loss for what to do. "Call her," she ordered, looking Vicky straight in the eye.

The stylishly dressed human gave a hopeless shrug, and waved her open mobile in response. "I've been trying, believe me – but it's just going to voicemail," she said. "She never turns her phone off… something must have happened."

"Think the 'Cons found them?" Quinn asked, nervously working a small ball of crumb-dotted cellophane between his fingers.

Longscope glanced toward the far wall, one hand on her hip with the digits of the other pressed against the side of her helm. "Rebound," she began, tones sharp and firm. Controlled. "Rebound, do you read? Establish your position at once."

The unpleasantly familiar sound of static was all that filled her audios in reply. She waited for as long as her patience allowed before flicking her optics toward Uppercut, who was watching with bated breath, and shook her head.

"We have to go after them," Vicky stated, placing Benedict down on the floor. The kitten gave a confused whining sound, which went all but ignored. The adult human drew herself up to full height – still barely taller than Uppercut's knees – barely-contained anxiety lining her features. "Something's wrong, I know it. I'm not about to sit around and do nothing while Eva could be in danger-"

"And _I_ will not expose _you_ to said danger in the process," Longscope cut firmly, lowering her hand. "The only 'we' in this situation applies to myself and my medic. I will not put either of you at risk."

Vicky's shoulders slackened somewhat, but her face did not fall. She continued to stare resolutely at Longscope, even as the sniper turned away from her to face her fellow Autobot. Quinn dropped his gaze to the floor, thinking.

"Remain here," ordered Longscope, momentarily placing a hand against Uppercut's forearm. She then turned toward the exit tunnel, and started swiftly across the command centre. "Watch the base and the humans – and their… catten. If Rebound contacts you before I reach him, patch it through immediately."

Without warning, Quinn suddenly stepped forward. "I'm coming with you," he said.

The sniper stopped cold in her tracks. "Did you not hear one word I just said?" she demanded impatiently, twisting to stare down at him. She watched him swipe his hoodie up from the floor, raising an optic ridge as he slipped an arm into the corresponding sleeve and tugged the jacket haphazardly onto his back. "I told you to remain here."

"I heard," Quinn replied coolly, jogging to her side with an expression of utmost seriousness. "And I ignored. Eva came to look for me when I was in trouble with 'Cons, even though you told her not to. That might not mean anything to you, but it sure as hell does to me. _I'm coming with you_."

Longscope studied his face through her visor; sizing up his courage, his determination. Commendable, for a human. "Do you at least know how to ride a motorcycle?" she asked. He nodded, lips splitting into a grin. Eventually, with a heavy sigh, she stooped into her terrestrial form and held steady for Quinn to mount her. He complied with almost unnerving enthusiasm, swinging one leg over her frame and taking tight hold of her handlebars. Longscope inclined one wing mirror to glance at Uppercut, and caught him trying to conceal a smirk. "You stay here –_or else_."

* * *

><p>"You used to be able to <em>fly<em>?" Eva asked, incredulous.

Rebound scraped the digits of one hand along the sheer rock wall of the narrow crevice in which he stood, searching for any break in the grey-coloured stone that could be used as a handhold. "Yeah – and it sure would come in handy now," he grumbled. Fragments of slate and shale snapped away beneath his fingers, raining noisily down into the already knee-high water. Eva covered her head from her perch on his shoulder, shivering beneath the cold damp of her clothes. "I was a Seeker – best flier in my squadron, besides the commander of course – but that's ancient history. Trading my wings for wheels seemed like a really good idea at the time, but now… _fraggit!_"

The chasm was naturally formed; a tight passage that led vertically up to a chamber that was flooded with light – an exit. With an undamaged chassis, the climb to almost-certain freedom would have been nothing to Rebound: the walls were barely twice his height. But since his servo was as good as non-functional and the only way out of here seemed to be straight up… it was just another dead end. Frustration flooded his circuits, made painful by the swell of salty water that was pooling around his legs. He hated being wet.

Able to sense his desperation, Eva straightened up atop the section of bumper that covered his shoulder joint. "I might be able to climb out of here," she mumbled, clambering to her feet by using his helm for support. He froze so as to not upset her balance, working hand ready to catch her in the event that she slipped. She reached forward through the semi-darkness and pushed both palms against the rock wall, its contours much more stable beneath her hands than under Rebound's much clumsier metal ones. "There's light coming through from up there. If I can make it, I should be able to get enough signal on my phone to call Vicky for help."

"Are you sure?" Rebound asked, vocal processors strained.

She didn't reply at once, so dug her fingers instead into the hairline cracks and ridges of the wall. Eva had never exactly been the athletic type – but that was the last thing that he needed to know at this moment in time. She kicked one foot inexpertly into a shoe-sized dent and lifted the other from the Autobot's shoulder, testing her weight. The rock did not break away. "I… I think so," she said hopefully.

Jaw clenched, Rebound pinched the back of her shirt between thumb and forefinger; he peeled her gently away from the wall and lifted her as high as he could, stretching upward to lessen the distance of her climb. "Just… watch it, alright?" he said, as she took firm grip of the makeshift handholds. She held fast when he released her, clinging to the rocks like a petrified gecko. "'Scope and the doc'll both be out for my energon if you take a tumble and get hurt."

Rebound then fell to apprehensive silence as he watched her inexpertly begin to scale the wall. Her feet slipped once or twice, dislodging small chunks of stone, but she did not suddenly plummet as he feared. Eva hauled herself upward, inch by inch, frequently pausing to catch her breath and search for the next potential foothold. It was immensely hard work, not helped by the uncontrollable tremors of cold that continued to roll down her spine – but she willed herself on. Rebound was in desperate need of her help this time. Strands of loose hair stuck to her temples and cheeks, slick and dark with sweat, the muscles in her arms groaning in protest.

The scout had begun to rock on his heels by the time Eva made it to the top; the water was above his knees now and creeping steadily higher. He tried to ignore the feel of it seeping in through the panels of his armour, craning his neck as the human struggled to drag herself over the lip of the wall. For a split second, she disappeared from view – but soon poked her effort-flushed face back into sight.

"I'm up!" she panted triumphantly, dragging the back of one sleeve across her glistening forehead.

"Why're you stopping?" Rebound urged, pointing toward the barely visible shaft of sunlight. Eva seemed surprised by the insistence of his tone; she flinched, wet locks of hair dangling from her scalp as she stared down at him. At the back of her mind, she realised how very strange it was to view a Cybertronian from this angle – from above. The scout fleetingly dropped his gaze to the well of black water lapping against his mechanical thighs, the pace of his spark quickening uncomfortably. "I ain't ready to go offline down here! Go call for backup already!"

Eva promptly vanished. He focused on her retreating footfalls for as long as he could, but soon there was nothing to keep his attention from the water. It was freezing cold, coarse and heavy with salt and kelp and fragments of driftwood, gushing relentlessly into the chasm from the now-submerged tunnel through which he had crawled. Fear clawed relentlessly at his spark and vocals, but he kept its lid firmly sealed. He'd told her that to make her hurry – but Rebound knew he wouldn't go offline right away. The pain would come first. The pain as systems flooded and circuits began to short out. The agonising, disorientating sensation of water seeping into vital systems and forcing out the energon. No; going offline came last. That part didn't bother him. The void was supposed to be painless – blissful, even; relief from pain, from conflict, from feeling. It was what happened beforehand that terrified him.

"E-Eva?" he called, voice barely short of becoming a petrified wail. Nothing but silence met his audios, prompting his electro-pulse to throb even faster.

Rebound began to claw at the wall with his functional servo, frantically trying to climb after her – but it was no use. Her footholds were too small, and attempting to create his own only caused the fragile stone to crumble and spill away like compacted sand. He realised that his vocals were making sound of their own accord; strangled gasps, shallow grunts, hitched breathing – though he knew he didn't need oxygen to survive. To a Cybertronian, 'drowning' did not mean the same as 'suffocating'.

He found a patch of grip amidst the rocks and hastily attempted to pull himself up, but slipped in such a way that his limp servo knocked against the wall. Hot pain flashed through his circuits; he flinched and clamped his other hand against it to stifle the ache, teeth clenched in frustration. "You there, Primus?" he hissed under his breath. "Can you hear me, old buddy? I know we ain't talked in a while, but… please, come on! Don't do this to me! I ain't had chance to make right all the wrongs I've done – the mistakes I've made. Throw me a rope here, okay?"

"Chillax, dude – the water's not even up to your waist yet."

Rebound blinked. The supreme creator knew slang? He glanced up, speechless. A face was staring back down at him from the top of the wall – a small, fleshy face inset with amused blue eyes and framed by a minor explosion of black-brown hair.

"Quinn?" he spluttered.

As Rebound tried to work out what the scrap he was doing there, the familiar sound of shifting metal echoed down from somewhere beyond his field of vision. Without warning, the black-and-orange Autobot sniper leaned warily over the human and into view; one optic ridge positioned significantly higher than the other behind her helm's visor.

The scout could have kissed her, had she been in range. "'Scope!" he cried, flinging himself against the base of the wall in euphoric relief. He extended his working arm as high as it would go, stretching from the balls of his feet with fingers splayed. "Oh, frag, I love you – hurry up and get me the Pit out of here!"

Without a word, but seemingly unimpressed by the tone of his demand, Longscope reached down and seized tight hold of his hand with both of her own. She gave a mighty tug, hauling him upward with difficulty; he worked his legs in a scrambling run along the wall to help her, kicking frantically as she dragged him up over the rim of the chasm and onto solid – dry – ground. Filthy water streamed from his chassis as the two of them toppled backward from the effort: she pushed him roughly off of her, faceplates irritable as though afraid that his cowardice was contagious. Rebound flopped flat onto his back and simply lay there, chestplates rocking with exhausted laughter, bathing in the stark daylight that streamed in through the cavern's mouth.

Kneeling a short distance away from the Autobots, Eva gave a slight start as Quinn crouched down beside her. "How did you get here so quickly?" she asked, dumbstruck.

"We were already out of the base when you phoned Vicky," Quinn grinned. He looked rather pleased with himself, as though he was personally responsible for their rescue. "U.C patched the call through to Longscope, and she traced the mobile's signal to these co-ordinates. She's awesome like that, you know?"

Eva felt a smile trying to bloom on her lips as they watched the sniper attempt to shake some sense back into Rebound, but she was too cold for the expression to fully form. Noticing her incessant shivering, Quinn unzipped his bold green hoodie and shrugged out of its sleeves. She only realised his intentions when he knelt up and began to drape the jacket around her shoulders – but by then, it was already too late to stop him. Flushing blotchily, Eva deliberately avoided his gaze as Quinn wrapped her damp torso in his hoodie's still-warm folds.

"Thank you," she mumbled quietly. She became very aware of how she must look all of a sudden; damp and bedraggled, like 'hell' or 'a cat dragged backwards through a hedge' as Vicky would say. This self-consciousness worried her, because it was something that she had never felt in front of a fellow human before.

"Always," Quinn smiled.


End file.
